Online Event Profiles Results of First Ever Consumer Service Fee Study Shows Where Consumers See Value and What They Will Pay for Lifestyle Financial Services.
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (June 13, 2012) — This week, Market Rates Insight will host two webinars that will reveal the results of the first Nationwide Integrated Study on Service Fees designed to gauge consumer acceptance of fee-based services from banks and credit unions. The survey reveals that a new category of “lifestyle financial services” is emerging that presents new revenue potential for financial institutions from non-interest income. The webinars will be presented Wednesday, June13, at 11:00 AM ET and Thursday, June 14, at 3:00 PM ET.
Market Rates Insight conducted the Nationwide Integrated Study on Service Fees in April, polling more than 1,500 consumers nationwide about their attitudes about various services offered by financial institutions. What the survey revealed was that consumers have a higher perceived value for services that provide convenience and enhance their lives, such as credit score monitoring, identity theft alerts, mobile banking services, personalized couponing services, and person-to-person payments. The Study also shows that these “lifestyle financial services” offer a higher perceived value and promote greater customer loyalty.
Among other findings, the Study shows that consumers are willing to pay on average $3.63 for lifestyle financial services, and credit union members indicated a higher likelihood to use such services (68.7%) than bank customers (66.3%). Foremost among the services that consumers indicated they would seek from financial institution is Identity Theft Alerts. More than 82 percent of those surveyed indicated they would be likely to buy Identity Theft Alert services from their bank or credit union at an average monthly fee of $4.07. Ranking second was Credit Score Reporting, with more than 73 percent indicating they were likely to buy this service at an average fee of $3.39 per month.
“Our new Study on Service Fees makes clear that there is a huge opportunity for financial institutions to realize new revenue from this new category of financial services that consumers say they want,” said Dr. Dan Geller, Executive Vice President of Market Rates Insight and the architect of the study. “Banks and credit unions continue to feel the pressure from low interest rates. This study not only points to a new revenue source, but also to a new way to build customer loyalty by offering services that will determine who consumers will trust with their money.
For more information and to register for these free webinars, visit http://www.marketratesinsight.com or send email to webinar@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
