Yesterday, J.D. Power and Associates released their 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The results: we are not so thrilled. After polling over 9,000 credit card users, the overall credit card customer satisfaction rating is at 703 out of 1,000 – the lowest it’s been since 2007, when the study was first conducted. J.D. Power used six key criteria for determining how the credit card companies were doing: interaction, billing and payment process, fees and rates, rewards, benefits and services and, lastly problem resolution. While American Express walked away with the grand prize with the top rating in overall satisfaction, others came out smelling better in certain categories. Here’s how the contenders chalked up:

Customer Interaction

Champs: Discover and American Express

Chumps: WaMu, GE Money and Target Visa

Discover and Amex were neck and neck on this front. The study highlighted Discover’s customer service wins, citing their stellar website and automated phone service and prompt customer service representatives. Discover cardholders reported average wait times to speak to a representative at 3.3 minutes – meaning that they were quite pleased and, it seems, holding stopwatches. Meanwhile, only 13 percent reported problems using Discover’s website.

Billing and Payment Process

Champs: American Express, Discover and National City

Chumps:  GE Money and WaMu

Here again, things look good for Amex and dismal for WaMu. This rating measured on how customers rated “the ease of understanding their bill account statements” and the “reasonableness” of the time between receipt of the bill and when it was due. Discover’s super cool website accessibility and Amex’s high marks in customer interaction likely contributed to them taking the cake on this one. WaMu, meanwhile, seems to be fumbling when it comes to processing payments and transfers quickly, according to some common Washington Mutual complaints.

Fees and Rates

Champs: National City, American Express and Discover

Chumps:  Target Visa, First PREMIER Bank and Credit One Bank

The usual suspects again, but on the top end, Fifth Third Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo come trailing in close. But then again, you don’t need a survey to find out that across the board, we’re pretty cheesed about climbing credit card fees and rates. Thanks to the junky economy, Obama’s Credit CARD Act and more people not being able to make their payments, credit card companies have been jacking the rates pretty steadily since 2008. According to J.D. Power, nearly 20 percent of cardholders reported an  increase in their interest race since 2008 – which is almost double the amount on the last go. In spite of that, J.D. Power says that customers rate their lenders 97 index points higher when they receive advance notification of rate changes. On the flip side, they tend to dock card companies 86 points when they incur a late fee. This possibly has something to do with dissatisfaction in billing and payment – one can imagine how disgruntled a cardholder might get when they get dinged because of too small windows to pay bills by mail and troubles with making payments by phone or the web.

Rewards

Champs: American Express, Barclaycard, Chase

Chumps: Target Visa and WaMu

Rewards were another casualty of the latest axing of card benefits and terms. Even so, American Express and Chase managed to stay on top of the pile. Cardholders reported a 757 rating of satisfaction with Amex’s rewards, which is steeply higher than the industry average of 690. The reasons for so many satisfied customers are similar to those that made them so pleased about the benefits and services, discussed below.

Benefits and Services

Champs: American Express,  Discover, National City

Chumps: HSBC, Target Visa

Amex again stands astride the category. So, what’s so great about Amex’s rewards and benefits? Two things, according to J.D. Power: A) more benefits and services and B) greater awareness of them. About 82 percent of Amex cardholders say they are aware of the benefits and services that come with their card, while the industry average is at a 70 percent. So, it goes to prove: if you’re giving perks, it’s nice to let your customers know about them.

Problem Resolution

Champs: American Express, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo

Chumps: WaMu, Target Visa, HSBC

We see U.S. Bank nudging its way into the top here, as well as Wells Fargo. It turns out that Credit One Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First National Bank of Omaha and National City weren’t ranked due to “insufficient sample size.” Perhaps this means that these cardholders had no problems to resolve. But given that these banks were in the mid-tier (with Credit One in the bottom tier) for overall customer satisfaction, that notion may just be optimism at work. Not to mention that 2009’s survey showed an increase of reported problems – with 18 percent of customers reporting difficulties, as opposed to 10 percent last year. Here again, J.D. Power cites late fees as a common source of customers reporting problems. Not to mention that with so many interest rates quietly growing and rewards mysteriously disappearing it’s unsurprising that customers might think that something’s amiss.

Overall

Champs: American Express, Discover, National City

Chumps: First Premier Bank, Credit One Bank, GE Money

At the end of the day, American Express took away the number on customer satisfaction award for the third consecutive year. WaMu, meanwhile, just barely kept itself out of the bottom three. Even so, J.D. Power spokesperson Michael Beird advises that “customer satisfaction is definitely a two-way street,” and that “customers who actively manage their credit card relationships will have a more positive experience than those who passively take what they get.” With that being said, J.D. Power recommends that consumers can get the most out of their credit card experience by:

• Compare credit cards carefully before signing up, paying particular attention to which features and benefits will be best for you
• Educate yourself on your cards perks and services and take advantage of them
• Don’t hesitate to file a credit card dispute when something is inaccurate

So, how does your experience compare to the findings of this survey? Are you happier overall than last year? Let us know.

Photo by BluEyedA73

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