American Express Voted Best Customer Service Credit Card — What Do They Have That Others Don’t?

In the 2008 Credit Card Satisfaction Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, the responses from 7,600 credit card users were analyzed to determine the best customer service credit card across five different service categories: interaction, billing and payment process, rewards programs, benefits and services, and fees and rates. The study compared results between “Transactors” (people who pay their transactions off in full at the end of each month rather than carry a balance) and “Revolvers” (people who carry balances from month to month). Results from the study show that American Express scored highest among all credit card companies, receiving best credit card satisfaction ratings in most of the five categories for customer service analyzed.

In the study, AmEx took best credit card for the Rewards, Fees and Rates, and Customer Service Call Center categories. Interestingly, American Express is most often used by cardholders who pay their balance off in full each month rather than carry a balance from one month to the next, which explains why the card would probably receive top scores in the fees and rates category. It also makes sense that cardholders who are paying their credit card balances in full each month would generally receive higher rewards from rewards programs and have higher overall satisfaction with their credit card in general. If you aren’t carrying a balance on a credit card, you aren’t paying interest or fees on that balance, you’re getting more rewards for less money, and you’re not watching your credit card payments get eaten by the interest and fees applied to many cardholders who carry balances.

For individuals who tend to carry a balance on their credit cards, Discover Card was considered the best credit card, thanks to cards with no annual fees and interest rates that were considered low among this group of credit card users.

Regardless of whether the cardholders in the study were considered transactors or revolvers, one aspect stood out as being extremely important to them: credit cards with good customer service. Having a twenty-four hour call center available to take cardholder calls and answer questions or solve problems was important to all cardholders, regardless of how they pay their balances. American Express took best customer service credit card, followed again by Discover Card; Chase was ranked third.

Tags: American Express, American Express credit cards, best credit cards, credit card best customer service

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