More Consumers Grow Weary of the Unbundled Bank

This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared on PYMNTS.com on July 13, 2022.

American consumers have embraced financial services’ ongoing digital transformation and the multiple payment options at their disposal. Because it has become so easy for consumers to move accounts to another financial institution (FI), bank or neobank, all financial services providers must ensure they provide their customers with appealing offerings to retain their loyalty — such as bundled banking products.

Bundled accounts are usually a single service offering from a bank that often includes a checking account, debit card and credit card. These accounts are often popular with customers because of their convenience, and data shows that they can help solidify a bank’s relationships with its depositors and borrowers. Forty-two percent of the consumers PYMNTS surveyed say they would be at least somewhat likely to leave a bank that did not bundle its offerings into a package for their convenience.

PYMNTS’ data finds that credit cards are a key potential entry point to a bundled account package. Though 44% of consumers use credit cards from their primary bank, 37% use credit cards from other card issuers. This share leads all banking products, suggesting that as much as consumers value ease and convenience, they also place a premium on better cardholder experiences, features and the perceived value of large credit card issuers.

These are a few findings in Bundled Banking Products: Matching Product Offerings With Customer Demand, a PYMNTS and Amount collaboration. We conducted a census-balanced survey of 2,290 United States consumers from April 21 to April 29 to examine their interest in bundled banking products, explore the payment methods they use and detail why a bank may or may not be their first choice for delivering these products.

Some additional key findings include:

• Eighty-nine percent of consumers have checking accounts with their primary banks — the most cited type of relationship consumers have with their banks. But consumers’ relationships with their primary banks typically extend well beyond their checking accounts. Most consumers also use debit cards from their primary banks and have savings accounts with them.

• Seventy-one percent of consumers interested in having their accounts managed by a single financial institution say bundling their banking accounts would make account management easier and more convenient. Consumers typically seek ease of use and convenience, and they find these attributes in bundled banking products and services that include flexible payment options.

• Forty-five percent of consumers want to have all their accounts with a single bank or financial institution. Nearly half of consumers are interested in having all their banking accounts bundled at one FI, but that share increases to 53% for consumers who use six or more products from their primary bank, making this latter group the most interested in bundling.

Consumers’ desire for banking convenience has spurred their interest in bundled banking services that offer a range of payment options, including credit cards, debit cards and checking accounts. Many consumers will leave banks that fail to offer these bundled options. Our data finds that consumers are prepared to seek out banks that provide innovative and flexible bundled offerings with convenient payment options and helpful recommendations. The banks that openly provide these types of convenience will likely win over customers — and keep them for the long haul.