According to newly-released research from the Consumer Focus organisation, three out of every four consumers have refused to even consider switching current accounts from one bank to another.
Discovering that banking customers with current accounts have a particular lack of will to take their business elsewhere than savings account customers, citing that the major rationalisations behind their decisions were fear of prohibitive costs and fees in addition to the possibility of the move negatively effecting their credit ratings.
Over the previous two years, the survey discovered, a paltry 7 per cent of respondents had actually decided to switch current accounts, while other sectors showed much higher rates; home insurance switches were at 22 per cent, telecom changes tallied at 26 per cent, and energy switches were highest at 31 per cent.
Nearly one out of every three respondents admitted being unhappy with their personal or business bank account providers, yet neglected to take any action to rectify the matter, as a large majority of those who did nothing felt that, between the different banking providers in the UK, there would few to no benefits to switching as most of them were essentially the same.
More than 40 per cent of consumers who had actually taken the time to switch were faced with complications and other problems, according to the research findings; 25 per cent of those who switched experienced issues with transfers that utilised a direct debit system.
Sarah Brooks, financial services head for Consumer Focus, commented on the findings, stating that banks will never be under enough pressure to take steps towards performance improvement unless more consumers are willing to take their business elsewhere.
Ms Brooks added that there will never truly be any competition in the banking industry until consumers come to see that there is value in switching banks, and if they do switch, they can do so quickly, simply, and with no errors.