Should I maintain my loyalty with a bank ?
December 13, 2017
We here at Catalyst have built a reputation built on trust…. This doesn’t come easily it’s a reputation that needs to be earned over time and that is why 100% of our business is generated from word of mouth referrals.
It is not as easy as just advertising the fact that you’re all about service or having the best interests of your client at heart ; it needs to be experienced personally or be told to you by someone that has used your services directly.
Banks cannot honestly say they’ve won awards for best customer service based on anything other than feedback questionnaires that they’ve encouraged their customers to complete, mainly by dangling carrots like “you’ll go into the draw to win x if you provide us your feedback”.
Then they try and cross-sell you anything from house and car insurance, life insurance, superannuation, travel insurance, income protection insurance and so on. That is why they want you as a customer, as a cross selling base, not to look after your welfare. It’s naïve to think that banks are looking out for you… looking to acquire your business yes but often this is as far as it gets. Once you are a mortgage client for example you are “acquired” then the bombardment of other products and services begins. It’s all about acquisition and once you’ve been with them for a while you’re part of the “back book” where they’ve basically locked in their profitability with you and won’t offer you the same deals they offer to “new to bank customers”.
It’s a bit like an insurance company who offers you a really good deal to switch your insurances then steps up the premiums in subsequent years to offset the “acquisition cost” of getting you on board with them.
Some banks can be trusted more than others but they are all public companies with shareholders who demand a return on their investment… there are smaller lenders out there that DO value good old fashioned service unlike the behemoths that fill the headlines and round out the “four pillars” of big banks that dominate our landscape. They for the main part can dial up profits and shareholder returns by making marginal changes to fees, interest rates, staff levels and the like. There is not enough competition within Banking in Australia.
We here at Catalyst are your eyes and ears to the banking world… contact us just if you want us to double check that your bank is doing the right thing by you. Don’t let them cross sell you everything as its likely you can obtain better deals with insurers and other institutions directly… the banks just get paid a commission for originating the cross-sale.