National City, Wells Fargo Have the Easiest Online Checking Account Sign up

Change Sciences Group, has released its Q4 report on online banking customer acquisition, showing whos making it easy to apply for a bank account online and whos not. For those who bank regularly online, living without features like automated bill pay and funds transfer is unimaginable. As word spreads about these time-saving features, the burden falls to banking institutions to make good on their promise and provide a painless way for consumers to get started. And, making it easy to get started means making it easy to apply for the cornerstone of the banking relationship, the checking account. Banks that fail to make it easy for customers to apply for checking accounts are burdening call centers, and losing new business at the point it matters most. National City and Wells Fargo remained on top for a second quarter in a row for checking account application ease-of-use. Fifth Third and US Bank, both newcomers to the report, brought up the rear. E*Trade, having made significant improvements to its site has moved from the 8th position to the 5th. Bank of America, in third place in Q3 has moved to 8th in Q4 due to detrimental changes to its process. The sites from best to worst for Q4 follow: 1. National City 2. Wells Fargo 3. Bank One 4. Washington Mutual 5. E*Trade Bank 6. Citibank 7. Chase 8. Bank of America 9. Fleet 10. Fifth Third Bank 11. US Bank Change Sciences Usability Benchmarks are based on its Typifi benchmarking process. Typifi allows for the comparison of sites across more than 30 usability metrics. Using the Typifi process, site owners can see how their site compares with competitors, as a customer would use it, thought-by-thought and keystroke-by-keystroke.