Commonwealth pays the price

Commonwealth Bank has paid the price for its November decision to raise variable mortgage rates by 45 basis points, with the latest Roy Morgan consumer banking customer satisfaction report showing a 90 basis fall in the bank's ratings in that month.

As a result, Commonwealth dropped below Westpac in the customer satisfaction rankings of the Big Four banks.

ANZ leads the Big Four, with a rating of 76.6 per cent, followed by Westpac (with 74.3 per cent), Commonwealth (73.5 per cent) and NAB (71.7 per cent).

All four banks lost ground with their customers following the November rate increases. ANZ's ratings slipped 20 basis points and Westpac's by 10.

A surprise was NAB's rating falling 100 basis points. It has made more effort than the other banks to cut fees and limit rate increases.

Roy Morgan included customer satisfaction ratings for individual credit unions and building societies in its survey for the first time.

The top-rated credit union was the Teachers Credit Union, with a customer satisfaction score of 88.2 per cent, followed by Credit Union Australia (87.8 per cent), and Savings & Loans Credit Union (87.3 per cent).

The top-rated building society was the Heritage Building Society, with a customer satisfaction score of 90.9 per cent, followed by Greater Building Society (90.3 per cent) and IMB (90.1 per cent).