This month’s edition of the “Moneywise” magazine carries a supplement showing all the winners (and losers!) in their annual awards for service and trustworthiness. At a time when banks, and the financial services industry in general, have had many knocks to their corporate reputations, any good news is good news, if that makes sense.
Here is my totally unscientific extract, i.e. the awards that interested me most. And don’t worry, if you don’t subscribe to Moneywise (which is very good value; and I am not on commission!) you can access the info online; scroll down for the link.
In summary: First Direct dominated the awards, winning many categories. There were also awards for several organisations I’ve mentioned on this blog: Zopa, Yorkshire BS and Coventry BS.
“MOST TRUSTED” AWARDS
Current account provider:
Winner: Smile. Highly Commended: First Direct. Trusted Providers: Clydesdale Bank, The Co-operative Bank, Nationwide, Yorkshire Bank
Credit card provider:
Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: John Lewis. Trusted providers: Co-op Bank, M&S Money, Nationwide, Tesco Bank
Mortgage provider:
Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: Coventry Building Soc. Trusted providers: Britannia, C&G, HSBC, Nationwide
Savings provider:
Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: Coventry Building Society. Trusted providers: Britannia, Nationwide, Post Office, Yorkshire Building Society.
Personal loan provider:
Winner: Zopa. Highly Commended: First Direct. Trusted providers: Nationwide, NatWest, Sainsbury’s Bank, Tesco Bank
Overall “most trusted” provider: First Direct. Highly Commended: Nationwide.
SERVICE AWARDS
In addition to the “most trusted” awards, there are also six service awards in each of 15 categories: go to the link below for details.
NAMING AND SHAMING
The magazine also named and shamed the outfits with the worst record. Sadly, out of seven categories, Santander came out worst in five and worst equal (with Halifax) in a sixth. Moneywise got an interview and an apology from Steve Williams (Santander’s Director of Service Quality, not the Bristol West MP of the same name)
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Awards details
For the full lists of all the Moneywise awards (winners, Highly Commended and shortlists / “trusted providers”) in all categories, with info on the survey’s methodology; plus contact details for the companies they endorse (but not for those they name and shame!), go to: LINK
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