The inaugural J.D. Power U.S. Financial Protection Satisfaction Study highlights the prevalence and impact of financial fraud on financial institution and payment card customers in the United States. The study, based on responses from 22,982 customers of major retail financial institutions surveyed between March and September 2024, evaluates customer experiences with account protection and fraud resolution services provided by the nation’s largest of them.
Financial fraud has become a common occurrence, affecting 29% of financial institution customers and 22% of payment card customers in the past year. Younger customers are particularly vulnerable, with 42% of those under 40 reporting incidents of fraud involving their checking, savings, or debit accounts.
When financial institutions effectively prevent or resolve fraud incidents, they gain greater customer trust and loyalty. Nearly half of fraud-affected financial institutions (46%) and payment card (49%) customers reported a more positive perception of their institution following resolution. Moreover, 92% of financial institution customers indicated they would reuse their financial institutions after resolving a fraud issue.
Despite the risks, a significant portion of customers remain unprepared to combat fraud. A significant portion of customers have not taken recent steps to secure their accounts. Common proactive measures, like monitoring transactions, are reactive rather than preventative, and advanced tools like two-factor authentication or biometric logins are underutilized.
What can we all do? First, always be on alert for phishing attacks. It might be a new year, but those will remain old hat. If you suspect an email message, text, or phone call is not quite on the up and up, it probably isn’t. If you receive phishing email texts, report and block the senders. Don’t reply to messages you are suspicious of in any way. And as tempting as it is to mess with callers you know are scammers, don’t waste your time. Just hang up. Anything you say to them just may be useful information for them.
Use multi-factor authentication whenever it’s available. It is an additional step before you can access your accounts, but it’s critical if your password is ever accessed. Pick your favorite method—keyfob, authenticator app, one-time use code as a text, etc.—and set it up.
Use passkeys and biometrics. They are exclusive to you and the particular account your trying to log into. They make it harder for hackers.
Always keep an active eye on your financial accounts. Check your charges often. It’s so easy to pull up your apps and take a quick look at what has been charged or other activity in your account. Take a moment, more than once a month, to check on them. If something is amiss, you’ll be glad you caught it early!
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