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Banking and Cards Research

Digging into the Customer Experience: Banking and Credit Cards

Corporate Insight’s Bank Monitor, Credit Card Monitor and Small Business Card Monitor provide ongoing coverage of the products, websites and overall customer experience offered by the nation’s leading banks and card issuers. Our value-added banking and credit card research digs deeply to evaluate the retail and small business customer experience.

Transaction History PDF Print E-mail
The ability to view transactional information, especially for transactions that occur between statement dates, is one of the primary uses of credit card private sites. In this Credit Card Monitor report, we investigate the Recent Activity and Transaction History sections currently offered by each card issuer, looking at the information provided and the formatting of the section. In particular, we look for which firms offer the most relevant data points, and which Transactions sections provide the most interesting ways for clients to sort and analyze their past spending.
This edition of Credit Card Monitor examines the Transaction History sections offered by each firm, focusing on where each section is located, the details it provides and the type of analysis available. Within each Transactions section, users can access a transactions table, some basic information about their account status and, at a few firms, graphs or other analyses of past spending. In particular, as we looked at the Transaction History sections offered by each firm, we focused on the following Key Questions:
  • Where is each card issuer’s Transaction History section located?
  • What data points can users access within the provided transactions tables?
  • What filters and Search tools are offered to assist card holders in parsing their spending history?
Each of the 10 firms we track now offer clients sortable Transactions tables with at least three basic data points for each transaction – Date, Description and Amount. Most issuers now go beyond this, however, offering information on Reference Numbers and Transaction Type either within the table itself, or in linked information sections. A few leading firms also offer a Running Balance column, providing balance information to card holders within the context of their individual purchases. The length of the transaction archives provided within this section varies heavily. In addition to Current Transactions, firms offer between two and 24 months of transactional data; the minimum currently considered to be adequate is 12 months of data, an amount offered to clients by 50% of issuers.

To help users derive the most benefit from their Transaction History sections, most firms offer filters and Search functions. Filters come in two varieties, with 60% of firms offering dropdowns that allow users to isolate specific Transaction Types, while only two firms offer the more versatile Category filters, which enable users to limit their Transaction Histories by particular merchant codes. In addition, 50% of issuers are currently providing Search tools to their clients. Two firms race past their competitors in our rankings by providing Spending Charts to users. These pie charts and bar graphs help users visualize their spending, with each firm enabling clients to user filters and Search capabilities to create transactional charts from up to two years of previous spending and payments.

As we continued to examine the available Transaction History sections, we came across the following additional Kay Findings:
  • Only two firms offer Recent Activity or Transactions links within the top navigational header
  • 90% of issuers include basic account information, such as Current Balance and Payment Date, on their Transactions section mainpage
  • Five issuers offer expandable transaction listings within their transactions tables, enabling clients to view additional information (and in one case, ads) without leaving the Transaction History page
 
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