Nearly Half of Consumers Say They’re More Satisfied With Their Card Issuer After Suffering Fraud, As Fraud Remains a Threat

Despite the ever-present threat of fraud, almost half of consumers tend to have a more positive opinion of their credit card issuer after becoming fraud victims, according to J.D. Power’s “U.S. Financial Protection Satisfaction Study,” released Thursday. Some 49% of credit card holders say they have a more positive impression of their bank or credit card issuer after experiencing an instance of fraud, the report says.

Factors that help form that favorable impression include timeliness and ease of resolution, the issuer’s helpfulness in managing the consequences, and the issuer’s ability to demonstrate concern for the customer’s needs during the fraud resolution.

“We also know that where a customer learns about their fraud experience impacts satisfaction, along with when the issuer takes time to learn about the issue and achieves goals like single-contact resolution,” Jennifer White, senior director for banking and payments intelligence for J.D. Power, tells Digital Transactions News by email.

The study’s findings come as fraud remains a plague for credit card issuers. Some 22% of credit card customers have experienced fraudulent activity in their accounts in the past 12 months, the study says.

The inaugural study, which reports fraud by type, reveals that unauthorized credit card use is the most frequent fraud, while peer-to-peer payment fraud involving credit cards is on the rise. In both cases, cardholders under the age of 40 have been more likely to experience fraud in the last 12 months, White adds. Overall, 42% of bank customers under 40 have experienced checking, savings, or debit card fraud in the past 12 months.

The survey results are based on 22,982 responses from customers of some of the largest banks and credit card issuers in the United States, including American Express Co., Discover, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, USAA, and Wells Fargo. The survey was conducted from March through September of this year.

While consumers want to help fight fraud, many don’t know how, the study found. Among credit card holders, 31% say they have not taken any recent measures to secure their account, while about 7 in 10 cardholders believe they have taken action in the past 90 days to make their card account safe. Still, consumers often need a push to guard their card accounts, White adds.

At the same time, the study found credit card issuers need to be more diligent about prompting cardholders to act on fraud-prevention measures. Some 40% of credit card holders say they’ve been prompted by their bank to act on fraud-prevention measures in the past 90 days.

“When we inventoried card issuers for the presence of a security center (at a minimum a landing page dedicated to reviewing security options), only 7 of 13 brands evaluated in this research offered this experience to their customers,” White says by email.