AmSouth Improves Top-Ranked Online Customer Service

The bank has added a self-service section to amsouth.com that allows customers to handle a number of tasks that previously would have required a visit to a branch or a call to 800-AMSOUTH. The new online self-service functions include: -- Ordering copies of cancelled checks or prior statements; -- Redeeming AmSouth Visa Rewards points; -- Requesting a payoff amount on an installment loan; and, -- Changing the email address the bank uses to contact them. In February, amsouth.com was recognized in a research study as having the best online customer service among the nations biggest banks. The study looked at how easily a customer could get an answer online to three common questions and determined that AmSouths search function provided not only the right answers, but also exactly the links to the information sought rather than pages of irrelevant information as was the case at other banks. AmSouth was one of the first banks in the country to offer free Internet Banking with bill payment and saw the number of customers signed up for the service rise from about 100,000 at the end of 2000 to more than 900,000 today.