It’s not often that New Zealand banks get independently rated for customer satisfaction.
Recently there has been a lot of publicity about the conduct and culture with the banks so it was good to see the research and ratings business Canstar come out this week with their 2019 Banking Satisfaction Survey and the commentary was interesting.
Banks Perform Badly For Giving Financial Advice
Canstar’s Banking Satisfaction Survey asked nearly 2500 people a range of questions about their banking experience.
The survey reveals 27% of respondents see their bank as a place to get good financial advice, or in other words 73% of people think that their bank is not a good place to get financial advice.
But many Kiwis do not know where else to go for financial advice and even though they acknowledge that banks are not good at this, they still let the banks look after their financial requirements.
Of course everyone needs a bank account and therefore a relationship with a bank.
Banks also offer savings and investments including KiwiSaver and so by default many people will let the bank look after these areas too. We have seen recently in the news about the errors that are happening with over taxing on KiwiSaver and that alone should be a good reason to seek out better advice. Rachelle Bland of Cliffe Consulting has set up a petition to fix KiwiSaver tax and is showing that financial advisers will push these issues for their clients.
Banks offer mortgages and loans and again they get a lot of that business as it is thought to be “easier” to speak to the bank. But this is changing as things are getting more complex and therefore more people are looking for good mortgage brokers to ensure that they are getting the best options. As a top New Zealand mortgage broker, Stuart Wills says “it constantly amazes me that the banks get away with providing personal loans to their customers at interest rates of 17% when the customer should have been able to get a top-up on their mortgage at rates of around 4%” and this highlights another reason to seek good financial advice.
Banks offer some insurance products too and while they do not have the choice or generally the expertise, many people will sign up with the bank and never know how good or bad the insurance is until it comes time to make a claim. It is very important to make sure that you have the right advice when it comes to insurance, otherwise you could have some major problems if you are every in the situation when you need to rely on the cover that you are paying for.
Kiwis Budgeting & Spending Habits Highlighted
The survey also highlights some alarming figures on budgeting and spending habits with more than 40% of those surveyed saying they don’t know what they spend every month and 60% don’t stick to a budget with the same number (60%) also saying they don’t worry about their budget or finances.
Kiwis have never been great at budgeting.
There are many reasons for this, but there are not really any excuses for not trying to budget.
You will see that we have some good budgeting software that we recommend called PocketSmith.
Creating a budget is not going to fix your spending habits overnight, but it might highlight where you are spending your money so you can make some changes.
So Which Bank Passed?
The banking satisfaction survey compared ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Co-Operative Bank, Kiwibank, TSB Bank and Westpac on nine different measures including customer service, fees/charges, interest rates and overall satisfaction.
When it comes to overall customer satisfaction, Canstar general manager Jose George says only one bank scored well on all of its measures.
That was the Co-Operative Bank.
They are a Kiwi owned bank so are a good option to consider.
Do You Trust Your Bank For Giving Good Advise?
Almost three quarters of of people think that their bank is not a good place to get financial advice.
Maybe you should review what you are doing with your bank and question what business they should be entrusted with.
There are plenty of places to go where you will get good financial advice, so why settle for poor advice.
Maybe it’s time to seek better advice.
