New Study on Service Fees for Banks and Credit Unions Reveals How to Balance Consumer Preferences with Price Sensitivity and Competitive Offerings.
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (April 24, 2012) – Consumers are demanding more value in exchange for service fees. Banks and credit unions need to reduce the risks associated with fee choices and balance those factors against the need for incremental income from services. In response, Market Rates Insight, Inc. (MRI, http://www.marketratesinsight.com), a leader in pricing intelligence for deposits, personal loans, mortgages, and fees, has created a unique research study designed to reduce risks and uncertainty and help financial services avoid a repeat of the failed debit-fee attempt, and to uncover value-added services consumers want and are willing to pay for.
Traditionally, decisions on service fees were based on a survey of the competitive landscape. Such an approach is no longer valid due to the increased risk associated with the uncertainty about consumers’ reaction to changes in service fees. The newly designed Integrated Study by MRI combines consumers’ preference and price sensitivity with competitive landscape information for a more balanced approach to decisions on service fees. This first-ever Integrated Study helps financial executives reduce the risk of poor decisions and increases the probability of generating incremental income from services.
This twice-annual Integrated Study is specifically designed to identify new and innovative services that consumers value and are willing to pay for. It is scheduled for release in the second quarter of this year, and will specifically assess consumer preference and perceived value for services such as credit score monitoring, identity theft alerts, mobile banking services, personalized couponing services, person-to-person payments, and other services. The Study will gauge likelihood to use and willingness to buy mapped against demographic data such as age, income, and gender. And the Study includes a review of the same service categories compared to the top five U.S. banks for competitive analyses.
“Financial institutions can no longer afford the risk of arbitrarily deciding on new services or fees,” said Dan Geller, Ph.D. Executive Vice President of Market Rates Insight. “Poor service fee decisions can be very costly in loss of customers, damage to reputation and now involvement of the newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
The first Integrated Study on Service Fees is scheduled for release in May 2012. It is being offered as an integrated study across all seven services, or as individual studies on each of the seven service areas. Individual studies will be available on credit score services, identify theft protection, personalized couponing, prepaid reloadable cards, overdraft protection, personal money transfer, and mobile remote deposit capture. Each study features consumer research on preferences and perceived value, as well as demographic segmentation.
For more information, contact Market Rates Insight at info@marketratesinsight.com.
About Market Rates Insight
For more than two decades, Market Rates Insight (MRI) has been helping clients price with precision by providing banks, thrifts, credit unions, and other financial institutions with comprehensive market intelligence on deposits, loans, and fees. MRI uses deposit surveys, mortgage and consumer loan surveys, fees and features studies, new product alerts, benchmarking and market share analysis to give subscribers the intelligence needed to strategically position products, optimize pricing and react to emerging trends. MRI’s products include web-enabled, customizable report programming, proprietary product research tools, searchable databases, market alerts, and online dashboards that aggregate key client data to provide real-time interactive views on how they rank against their specific competitors.
Market Rates Insight is located in San Anselmo, California. For more information, see http://www.marketratesinsight.com.
Photos available upon request
For additional information contact:
Tom Woolf
Market Rates Insight
(415) 259-5638
tom.woolf@marketratesinsight.com
