ALBANY, NY (12/14/2011)(readMedia)-- Credit unions have lots of reasons to celebrate this holiday season. They set an all-time customer satisfaction record on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) annual report, which was released yesterday. In the report, credit unions soared 8.7 percent to hit 87 (on a scale of 0 to 100), the highest score ever attained by any of the 47 industries the ACSI reports on. They also tripled their ACSI customer satisfaction lead over banks, whose overall satisfaction dropped one point to a score of 75.

ACSI Founder Claes Fornell indicated that the data reflects a tumultuous year for banks on many levels, including foreclosures and customers fighting back on fees. He also said that "the new ACSI data suggest credit unions and smaller banks now have become an even more attractive alternative for consumers."

Just prior to the release of the ASCI report, the Consumer Federation of America's (CFA) Board of Directors unanimously approved a statement of support for credit unions, which emphasized that not-for-profit, financial cooperatives have a "critical and irreplaceable" role.

"At a time when consumers are increasingly critical of for-profit financial institutions, it is important for not-for-profit, member-owned credit unions to survive and prosper and for all consumers to have access to credit union membership, said Stephen Brobeck, CFA's executive director, upon release of the statement of support. (The full CFA Statement of Support is attached.)

"ACSI's results and CFA's statement of support confirm what credit unions have known since their creation over 100 years ago-that credit unions are unique and different," said William J. Mellin, president and CEO of the Credit Union Association of New York. "In short, credit unions exist for the people they serve. This makes them not only an attractive financial alternative for people from every walk of life, but an essential one as well."

The ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of quality products and services available to household consumers in the U.S. Their data is collected from interviews with approximately 70,000 customers annually, and is used to measure satisfaction with more than 225 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, along with more than 200 services, programs and websites of approximately 130 federal government agencies.

The Consumer Federation of America is a nonprofit association of nearly 300 consumer groups that was founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocaacy and education.

The Credit Union Association of New York has served as the trade association for the state's credit unions for 94 years. New York credit unions have assets of more than $53 billion and serve 4.5 million members. To learn more about the Association, visit www.cuany.org.

-30-

Posted Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 02:40 pm by Credit Union Association of New York
Last Updated Thursday December 15, 2011 at 09:34 am