Over the last 12 months, satisfaction amongst mortgage holders with the major banks has dropped by 2.8 percentage points to 75.4%, according to new data from Roy Morgan Research.

 

This was a significant drop compared to non-mortgage customers which fell by only 0.4 percentage points to 80.5% over the same time period.

 

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has the highest satisfaction rating amongst home loan customers with the big four banks at 78.0%. This is followed by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (75.9%), National Australia Bank (72.9%), and Westpac (72.6%).

 

The non-majors received much higher satisfaction levels amongst home loan customers. ING Direct led the pack with a 94.8% rating followed by Bendigo Bank with 94.5%.

 

“Despite very low loan and deposit rates that favour borrowers, overall bank customer satisfaction is currently being adversely affected by the fact that only 75.4% of the big four banks’ home-loan customers are satisfied,” said Norman Morris, industry communications director at Roy Morgan Research.

 

“What’s more, the satisfaction gap between them and other customers (80.5%) is widening. With banks recently announcing ‘out of cycle’ increases in loan rates, borrower satisfaction is expected to decline even further.”

 

Morris said that while customer satisfaction with the big four banks has plateaued over the last three years, this is now starting to show signs of decline.