New Survey: Americans Overwhelmingly Believe Banks Doing Good Job Helping Consumers Avoid Scams and Keeping Accounts Secure

The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) today released the results of a national survey that explores how Americans value banking services and innovation, in advance of its annual conference CBA LIVE which begins today. Notably, the survey found:

• An overwhelming majority – 8 in 10 Americans (83%) – believe banks are doing a good job helping them avoid scams.
• Americans view scam prevention tools to keep their accounts secure and convenience-oriented offerings as extremely or very important, and mobile banking innovation tops the charts at 80% of poll respondents considering it to be the most important.

“This survey data confirms that retail banks are meeting the needs of Americans when it comes to both security and convenience,” said CBA President & CEO Lindsey Johnson. “It is more important than ever for banks to deliver innovative financial tools consumers demand, while also ensuring their hard-earned money is safe and secure.”

Key Findings

The convenience of mobile and online banking ranked far and away the most important of the tools and features offered by banks.

• The vast majority (80%) of respondents indicated that “mobile banking for convenient transfer of money between accounts, depositing checks and paying bills online or with your smartphone” was extremely important (55%) or very important (25%).

Banks are doing a good job at providing scam prevention tools and Americans value these tools highly.

• An overwhelming majority – 8 in 10 Americans (83%) – believe banks are doing a good job helping them avoid scams.
• Nearly three quarters of respondents (71%) said these tools are “extremely” or “very” important from their bank, including warning notifications before completing a transaction or email alerts about potential fraud. 

Majorities are using convenience-focused innovation along with scam prevention and security tools provided by their banks.

In addition to exploring the importance of banking tools and innovation, the survey also explored American’s usage of these services. The most frequent-or-occasionally used tools include a mix of both convenience-related tools and innovation and security tools and features:

• 80% (58% frequent): Mobile banking for convenient transfer of money between accounts, depositing checks and paying bills online or with your phone
• 67% (39% frequent): Enhanced account security like 2-factor authentication
• 58% (31% frequently): Enhanced account activity alerts and monitoring such as texts to confirm and approve purchases
• 56% (25% frequently): Scam prevention including warning notifications before completing a transaction or email alerts about potential fraud
• 49% (29% frequently): Text or email notifications about your account balance if it runs too low
• 39% (16% frequently): Online tools such a spending analyzers to track how you spend money each month, and financial planning and budgeting tools 

The survey results come after the FBI recently reported a five-year high of online scammers. The FBI’s 2022 Internet Crime Report found that more than $10 billion in losses were incurred in 2022 from online scams reported to the Bureau, the highest annual loss since 2018. In the report, the Bureau reported 22,985 victims of credit card or check fraud for 2022 where these crimes alone accounted for $264,148,905 of reported loss.

About The Survey

The survey was conducted by ClearPath Strategies, fielded February 24 – 28, 2023 and included 1,197 adults across the U.S., representative by geography, age, gender, education level, and race.