Auriemma Consulting Group Says Customer Service New Competitive Frontier for Credit Card Issuers.

WESTBURY, N.Y. -- Please replace the release dated January 31, 2007 with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

AURIEMMA CONSULTING GROUP SAYS CUSTOMER SERVICE NEW COMPETITIVE FRONTIER FOR CREDIT CARD ISSUERS

Many consumers feel only somewhat satisfied with credit card customer service, creating an opportunity for enterprising credit card issuers to differentiate themselves from their competitors through enhanced customer care.

According to research by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG), 48% of consumers think the customer service on their most frequently used credit card is "outstanding," but 44% are less enthused, giving customer service only a neutral rating.

Consumers cited long hold times and a lack of customer service representative knowledge as the primary reasons for dissatisfaction with their credit card issuer's level of customer service. 55% of consumers feel that the customer service representatives that they speak with are not well trained or able to help them with their question or issue. 62% of consumers feel that they spend an unacceptable amount of time waiting on hold to speak with a customer service representative at their credit card company.

About one-third of consumers say that they favor a particular credit card because they perceive the issuer's customer service to be outstanding. Megan Bramlette, an ACG associate, says, "It appears that there is a population of credit card users that feel outstanding customer service is a primary reason to use a particular credit card. In the future, we may see card companies putting more emphasis on customer service if they believe that this will increase their market share or profits."

The analysis included in this report came as result of a November 2006 survey of 409 credit card users. Auriemma Consulting Group is a management consulting firm to the payments and lending industry.