Australia’s big banks are failing to make the grade according to consumer ratings released by Mozo.com.au, which named Bendigo Bank as Australia’s favourite bank.

Mozo.com.au is the first service to combine financial product comparison tools with customer ratings, allowing Australians to compare banking products and providers on everything from interest rates to customer service.

The site’s launch ratings, collated from over three thousand people, reveal that regional and community banks are outperforming the bigger banks in every way.

“For the first time, Australians have passed collective judgement on their banks and the Big Four were found lacking,” said Rohan Gamble, founder of Mozo.com.au.

“We launched Mozo to show Australian banking customers that competition is still alive and well. Our service lets people search the market and compare products from small and large providers to get the best possible deal, then see how the provider is rated by other customers on important issues like trust and service.”

Customers rated the banks and their products in five categories: trust, customer service, convenience, product features, and rates and fees.

Australia’s favourite banks are:

1. Bendigo Bank
2. Members Equity
3. Bank of Queensland
4. Suncorp
5. BankWest

The regional banks dominated the Most Trusted Banks category despite the current global financial crisis and speculation over the ability of smaller banks to weather the turmoil.

The major banks rated extremely poorly on trust and customer service, and were noticeably absent from the Best Rates & Fees category. The results show that the big banks, some of the biggest advertising spenders in Australia, can no longer hide behind their expensive advertising campaigns.

Mr Gamble added, Not only did the regional banks top the customer ratings, the smaller providers also have some of the most competitive lending and deposit products in the market when it comes to interest rates and fees.

“Our advice to Australian banking customers is to look beyond the marketing campaigns, and evaluate financial providers on the strength of their product and service offerings.”

Mozo’s comparison tools help consumers assess the best value financial products for their situation and make informed financial decisions.

Mozo.com.au has also developed a free financial ‘health check’ service that shows consumers whether they would benefit from switching their home loan, credit card or personal loan, and which products would save them the most.

Consumers enter their existing product details and Mozo compares hundreds of products to generate a personalised report showing the Top 5 products that would save them the most money and help pay off their loan or credit card debt faster.

“In the current economic climate it’s more important than ever to find the loan, credit card, savings product or bank account that will save, or make, you the most money. Unfortunately, too many Australians put up with bad deals from their banks because it’s too difficult to do anything about it. We hope to change all that by giving people everything they need to research and compare financial products in the one money zone.”

About the Mozo ratings

In an Australian first, Mozo partnered with Roy Morgan to ask over 3,000 Australians to rate and review their financial providers on trust, customer service, convenience, product features, and rates and fees. Mozo.com.au aggregates these reviews to give consumers the inside story on everything from the bank with the best service to the highest rated providers of credit cards, home and personal loans, savings products and bank accounts.