23,000 banking customers vote in 2011 People's Choice Awards

Commonwealth Bank named Australia's worst mortgage lender after mega rate rise NAB voted Australia's best big bank after breaking up with its competitors 'People before profits' marketing wins more fans for mutuals and challenger banks

23,000 Australians have cast their votes on the country's best and worst financial institutions in the 2011 People's Choice Awards, naming the Commonwealth Bank as Australia's worst home loan provider and worst Big 4 bank after its super-sized home loan rate rise last November.

Hosted by finance comparison and reviews site Mozo, the People's Choice Awards are the most comprehensive annual consumer report card on the performance of Australian banking and insurance providers, with customers rating 201 providers over the last 12 months.

Cranky Commonwealth Bank customers gave the bank a dismal home loans rating of 5.9 out of 10, down from 6.7 in 2010. Commonwealth Bank's overall satisfaction rating fell to 6.8, while NAB's headline grabbing break-up and asterisk-killing campaigns saw its overall rating climb from 6.9 to 7.1, vaulting the bank to the position of Australia's most popular Big 4 bank.

Putting people before profits paid off for the Greater Building Society and ME Bank, who were voted Best Home Loan provider and Runner Up respectively. Customers praised both institutions for choosing not to raise home loan rates above last November's official cash rate increase, awarding home loan ratings of 9.4 and 8.8 out of 10 respectively.

The Greater Building Society and ING Direct were the year's big winners. The Greater scored a record overall satisfaction rating of 9.2 out of 10 and added Best Building Society and Best Savings Accounts to its Awards tally.

ING Direct was voted Australia's Best Bank for the second year running for its consistently competitive online savings, everyday banking and mortgage products. Australia's favourite bank also picked up Best Bank Accounts and Most Trusted Bank.

Australia's mutual societies shined in this year's Awards, increasing their average overall satisfaction rating from 8.1 in 2010 to 8.2 in 2011 against a backdrop of declining satisfaction in banking providers overall. Customers rated mutuals better than the banks on the key measures of service, trust, price and features, and equal to the Big 4 for convenience.

Rohan Gamble, managing director of mozo.com.au said, "Competition returned to the banking landscape with a bang in 2011, with banks marketing everything from break-ups to cold hard cash for switching.

"While these stunts certainly grabbed the headlines, customer satisfaction is driven by actions not marketing. The NAB's axing of penalty fees, ING Direct's consistently competitive interest rates and the Greater's commitment to people before profits have made them the big winners in customer satisfaction."

Unlike other banking awards that rely on the views of industry experts, the Mozo People's Choice Awards were created to let Australians have their say. Customers rated their financial institutions on overall satisfaction, price, features, customer service, convenience and trust. The results were aggregated to provide a comprehensive report card on the Australian banking industry.

The complete Mozo People's Choice Awards list is at http://mozo.com.au/peopleschoice.

As rated by 23,000 customers around Australia over the last 12 months. Ratings aggregated by Mozo.com.au.