Survey Ranks Banks On Customer Service, Finds All Generations Like Branch Banks

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A new customer survey by J.D. Power finds five local banks closely ranked in customer satisfaction.

"We're asking a lot of questions about their primary banking experience, everything ranging from their experience when they walk in the branch, experience with mobile, online, how they feel about fees, whether they've had problems or not," Jim Miller, the senior director of retail banking for J.D. Power told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Friday.

On a 1,000-point scale, PNC scored first at 798, with Citizens and Huntington at 794, First National Bank at 792, and First Commonwealth Bank at 791.

PNC dropped 4 points from last year, while Citizens was up 17, but Huntington surprised many, tying Citizens.

Chris Oberlin manages Huntington's just opened Grant Building branch and says Huntington is committed to face-to-face banking by opening more branches.

"Here at Huntington, offering our customers both options of doing both mobile banking and actually coming in and meeting with someone one on one is really test to what our customer service is all about," said Oberlin.

J.D. Power found customers of all ages want that personalized service.

While the survey found that the younger generation tends to use mobile phones for a lot of their banking, all generations at about the same level use the retail banks.

And this study comes at a time when some of the bigger banks are cutting back on their retail branches.

PNC has closed many branches while Citizens is downsizing branches to just one teller.

"I like the personal touch of actually going in and talking to someone," says 20-something Ralph Crawford.

A Huntington customer, Crawford uses his phone for many transactions but, he said, "Something larger like an actual paycheck I prefer to actually go inside and talk to the people there. It feels safer because phones, technology these days has made things easier but it has made things a lot less secure."

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