Be it rates, fees or the emotional aspects of their relationships, a new survey of credit union members and bank customers showed that credit unions once again came out on top.

That's according to the 2011 Northeast U.S. Bank & Credit Union Customer Experience Survey released Thursday by Prime Performance, which advises banks on improving the client experience.

Credit unions were the overall customer experience leader with a Prime Experience Index of 79%, which was ahead of the overall bank average of 59%, the data showed.

The Prime Experience Index is a single metric showing how banks and credit unions are performing on delivering a superior customer experience and is comprised of four measures: satisfaction with service, likely to recommend, likely to come to the bank first for additional products or services (repurchase intent) and how effective that bank is at meeting financial needs.

“When it comes to the emotional aspects of the customer/bank relationship, as well as how customers feel about rates and fees, banks come up short compared to credit unions,” said Jim Miller, president of Prime Performance.

Among banks, PNC and M&T had the highest customer experience rankings, according to the survey. Chase Bank, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo were ranked sixth through ninth by respondents.

The Prime Performance survey is based on responses from 4,934 bank customers and credit union members in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Credit unions also were ranked higher than banks on another recent survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index.