Wilmington, Del. January 9, 2024 – Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of its 2023 Mobile Credit Card Scorecard. Bank of America and Wells Fargo tied for first place honors in the annual Keynova Scorecard, a highly detailed competitive evaluation of the cardholder experience using the mobile apps and mobile web channels offered by the 10 leading U.S. credit card issuers.

While basic card information and servicing support are widely available via mobile devices, many issuers have stepped up their offerings for the increasing number of mobile-only credit card users. The Scorecard reveals that mobile virtual assistants, spending report analysis, and card control elements enhance mobile usability and set the leading issuers apart.

Key Findings:

Virtual Assistants and Chatbots Widely Available Among Issuers; Capabilities Vary

Most of the Scorecard issuers (80%) offer a mobile app virtual assistant or chatbot with varying capabilities to help credit cardholders with efficient servicing and account information, and 20% offer a chatbot to mobile web users. The available skills and response efficacy are mixed though: 40% of issuers’ mobile assistants can aid cardholders with activating a new card, address rewards inquiries or identify transactions by merchant or dollar amount, while only 20% of issuers’ assistants provide the added convenience of connecting a cardholder to a live customer service representative. Bank issuers, including Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, have been particularly innovative in advancing virtual assistance with early AI-enhanced natural language processing, and 20% of issuers enable two-way voice interactions through their apps’ virtual assistants.

“Though virtual assistants with conversational voice interactions are nascent, they can reduce time and friction for cardholders to receive relevant information and support,” said Susan Foulds, managing director, Keynova Group. “Bank issuers offering intelligent virtual assistants are well positioned to serve as a digital financial hub providing access to powerful insights with an embedded 360-degree spending analysis of both credit card and depository transactions.”

Next-Gen Personal Financial Management Helps Manage Spending On the Go

Issuers’ mobile spending and Personal Financial Management tools feature innovative visuals and categorized transaction details that are key for cardholders managing and monitoring their credit card spending on mobile devices. Today, 70% of Scorecard issuers prominently feature a link to spending reports or an updated spend summary on the mobile app account dashboard or details screen, while 40% provide similar quick access to mobile web users. For a more comprehensive spend analysis, 40% of issuers offer a retrospective 16-month view of spending via their mobile app or website. However, only 20% of issuers - Bank of America and Chase - enable mobile users to personalize their spend analysis by assigning customized categories, while Bank of America allows app users to establish rules for grouping transactions.  

Mobile-Specific Card Controls Build the Channel’s Value

Traditionally, issuers have been more advanced in deploying critical card control capabilities within the desktop environment than via mobile channels, but this is changing as mobile development accelerates. For example, 30% of issuers—vs just 10% one year ago—now provide a list via mobile of all merchants storing a user’s credit card information, and 20% also identify which digital wallets are storing a specific card’s details.

“As mobile is becoming an increasingly important channel for cardholders, issuers are leveraging device features such as GPS, mobile scan and push notifications in new ways to optimize card and transaction management,” notes Beth Robertson, managing director, Keynova Group. “The integration of these and other mobile capabilities enables ready access to card and transaction controls, building mobile’s centricity and engaging cardholders.”

American Express allows cardholders to set and modify a credit limit via mobile web for each authorized user, while 20% of issuers enable cardholders to use mobile devices to lock multi-user cards for a specific user. Using the Barclays US app, cardholders can set and adjust spending limits in specified merchant categories. Nearly half (40%) of issuers incorporate mapping into transaction information to help cardholders monitor their spending and limit unwarranted transaction disputes. Card scan is now offered by Citi to make it easier to enroll for digital account servicing, while advances in push notification opt-ins—offered by all the issuers’ apps—provide timely account updates, real-time transaction information and support notifications such as for hybrid chat customer service responses.  

About the Mobile Credit Card Scorecard

Keynova Group’s Mobile Credit Card Scorecard objectively evaluates the cardholder acquisition and servicing experience for consumers using the mobile websites and apps 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. With more than two decades of experience benchmarking online and mobile financial services, Keynova Group’s Online and Mobile 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.