Leading Credit Card Issuers Emphasize Cardholder Security; Streamline Card Applications
Wilmington, Del. May 10, 2023 – Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of the Q2 2023 Online Credit Card Scorecard. Bank of America claims the sole first place honors in the Scorecard for online user experience in Keynova Group’s competitive evaluation of the 10 leading U.S. credit card issuers’ websites. As part of Keynova’s review of digital credit card capabilities, an inaugural Mobile Credit Card Scorecard will be released in Q4 2023.
The Scorecard’s findings show that leading issuers are enriching their online Credit Card Security Centers with personalized data and recommendations and are making improvements to credit card applications that minimize data entry while emphasizing application efficiency.
“Credit card issuers are accentuating card account security and engaging cardholders to help monitor and mitigate suspicious activity with personalized information and proactive capabilities,” said Beth Robertson, managing director, Keynova Group. “We also see issuers continuing to streamline the card application process by gathering only the core information and disclosure acknowledgments needed to effectively evaluate an applicant.”
Key Findings:
Leading Issuers’ Personalize Security Centers to Engage Users
As data privacy is of paramount concern to both cardholders and issuers, 40% of leading credit card issuers are using a centralized Security Center to supply security information that is personalized to the cardholder and to his or her specific transactions. Bank of America stands out in this area for its customized security indicator which offers individual recommendations about security--helping cardholders to see the positive effect of implementing protective measures such as account alerts or multi-factor authentication. Bank of America, Chase, and U.S. Bank make up the 30% of issuers that provide a personalized summary of account login history via the Security Center, showing recent login details including date, time, and device used. While 80% of issuers display last date and time of login on the card account’s authenticated landing page, only 20% indicate the last device used for login.
Card Issuers Enable Cardholder Tools to Detect Suspicious Activity
To help detect suspicious card activity, issuers offer a variety of tools to assist cardholders in monitoring storage and use of card account data by third parties. More than half (60%) of issuers identify merchants paid via recurring card transactions, and Chase additionally includes a list of all other merchants that are storing a user’s card number and related information. Half of issuers highlight organizations or apps that have access to a cardholder’s account data via data-sharing or aggregation services and enable permissioned account access to be revoked. Ancillary protection services for cardholders also reinforce security: 40% of issuers including American Express, Capital One, Chase, and Discover offer social security number (SSN) tracking services that help identify unauthorized use or dark web access to a cardholder’s SSN. Discover also offers a service to remove personal information from third-party people-search sites.
Streamlined Forms Improve Card Applicant Experience
Cardholder acquisition is another area of continuing development for issuers which are evolving their credit card applications to create a simplified and efficient experience for prospects; 60% of issuers now offer a single-page card application designed to contain all required information entry and acknowledgements. Barclays US and Discover also now offer an application prefill option for non-customers, enabling applicants to enter abbreviated personal information such as the last four digits of their SSN, a mobile phone number, or birth date to prefill key personal data in the application and preclude the need for exposing the full SSN on the form. The applications can also facilitate digital onboarding for new cardholders as half of the reviewed issuers offer enrollment for paperless document and statement delivery within the application flow.
About the Credit Card Scorecard
Keynova Group’s Online Credit Card Scorecard objectively evaluates the cardholder acquisition and servicing experience for consumers using the websites of 10 leading U.S. credit card issuers: American Express, Bank of America, Barclays US, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Discover, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. A Mobile Credit Card Scorecard, to be released in Q4, reviews the mobile app and mobile web experience for the same group of issuers. With more than two decades of experience benchmarking online and mobile financial services, Keynova Group’s Credit Card Scorecards identify best practices and trends in the competitive landscape for consumer credit card issuing. For more information about Keynova Group’s Credit Card Scorecards, please visit https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#credit-cards-and-lending.
About Keynova Group
Keynova Group is the nation’s foremost competitive intelligence firm providing trusted benchmarking insights and analysis of consumer and small business digital financial services, including banking, credit card, home lending and insurance. Since 1999, Keynova Group’s Scorecards have served as the go-to source for leading financial services firms to obtain reliable competitive intelligence and actionable insights. The firm’s proven methodology and highly detailed results help its clients maximize the value of their digital channels to deliver a premier experience to customers and prospects.
For more information:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates, for Keynova Group
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com