Apple Card Gets Top Ranking in J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study

J.D. Power has named Apple Card the Best Co-Branded Credit Card for Customer Satisfaction with No Annual Fee in its 2024 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. This is the fourth consecutive year in which Apple has landed a top ranking in the study.

Apple Card (Goldman Sachs) ranks highest in customer satisfaction among co-brand credit cards with no annual fee, with a score of 654. This is the fourth consecutive year in which Apple Card and issuer Goldman Sachs have collectively earned a segment award.3 Hilton Honors American Express Card (644) ranks second and Costco Anywhere Visa by Citi (634) ranks third.

The U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, now in its 18th year, measures customer satisfaction with credit card issuers by examining seven factors (in alphabetical order): account management; benefits; customer service; new account; rewards earning; rewards redeeming; and terms. The study includes responses from 38,852 credit card customers and was fielded from June 2023 through June 2024.


Key findings of the 2024 study:
● Cashback cards are king: A majority (58%) of cardholders use cashback cards, while just 31% are using points/miles cards and 11% are using value cards (e.g., credit-building cards with no rewards). A reason provided more often for moving to cashback and value cards is to incur lower/no annual fee. Cashback cardholders also say they redeem rewards more often for a statement credit (21% vs. 9% for points/miles).
● Financially unhealthy shift products: This trend away from points/miles is consistent with a continued decline in financial health among credit card customers. An increasing majority (54%) of cardholders are now classified as financially unhealthy. The use of points/miles cards by financially unhealthy cardholders drops significantly in 2024 (27%) from 2023 (31%) with concurrent growth in use of cashback and value cards.
● Revolving debt and high interest rates raise concern: For a second consecutive year, 51% of cardholders are carrying revolving debt. The recalled average interest rate for new purchases has increased to 15.6% (16.9% among financially unhealthy cardholders) in 2024, up from 14.6% in 2023, and cardholders are spending $103 less per month, on average, than they were in 2023. The percentage of cardholders saying the overall perks of their card improve their lifestyle declines in 2024 to 25% (18% among financially unhealthy cardholders).
● Financial health affects customer satisfaction: While overall satisfaction declines just 2 points (on a 1,000-point scale) this year (610 vs. 612 in 2023), cardholder perception of credit cards varies widely based on financial health. Satisfaction improves 2 points among cardholders without revolving debt but declines 5 points among those with revolving debt. Overall satisfaction scores are 61 points lower among cardholders carrying debt (580) than among those without debt (641).
● Automated customer service fails to connect: When it comes to interactions with customer service, whether for problem resolution or questions about their account, automated phone and virtual assistant channels significantly underperform personal interactions with live representatives and digital engagement via email, online chat, mobile app messaging, text and social media. The overall satisfaction score for automated customer service is 609, which is 40 points lower than the study average for customer service satisfaction.

More details in the full report linked below...

Read More