When it comes to service and faster transactions, credit unionscontinued to have the edge over banks last year.

That's according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, which showed creditunions improving their ACSI score from 82 in 2012 to 85 in 2013,well ahead of their larger bank competitors.

The ACSI said it used data from interviews with roughly 70,000customers to analyze customer satisfaction with more than 230companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as morethan 100 services, programs and websites of federal agencies.

After experiencing a slight dip in service levels in 2012brought on in part by the surge in new members from Bank Transfer Day the year before, credit unions are back ontop in a number of areas. For one, they received strong marks fortheir member service at branches, the ACSI noted. In addition tohaving very courteous and helpful staff, members said transactionswere quicker and more efficient compared to banks.

“Customer service and speed of transactions – those are bothoutstanding scores for credit unions,” said David VanAmburg,managing director of the ACSI. “This is clearly the hallmark forcredit unions and what drives their strengths.”

Almost three-quarters of all credit unions offer free checkingcompared with about one-third of banks and they typically offerlower interest rates on loans and revolving credit, according tothe ACSI. These were major reasons that customer satisfaction withcredit unions climbed 3.7% to an ACSI benchmark of 85, a good dealhigher than for banks, large (73) and small (83).

Even as bank fees continued to rise and credit unions also beganto use more fees, customer satisfaction with both financialinstitutions was still on the upswing, the ACSI found. Bank feesincreased 2%-3% over the past year, which was the 15th straightyear of such increases, but no negative repercussions have beendetected regarding customer satisfaction. In part, this is becausea fair number of consumers apparently have learned how to avoid thefees by exclusively using their own bank's ATMs and maintainingsufficiently large account balances.

“(Consumers) make a plan to get money out of their bank's ATM orthey're going online to check balances,” VanAmburg said. ”There'sbeen a lot of behavior modification, if you will, so that peopledon't end up paying fees.”

While the ACSI rankings trumpet traditional successes, restingon national results could backfire, said Denny Graham, president/CEO of FI Strategies, a St. Louis-basedstrategic planning firm.

“This is great news for the industry, but like politics, allmember satisfaction is local. Every credit union with whom I'veworked just knows they give the best service. Unfortunately, thatisn't always true,” Graham said.

He advised credit unions to look to their own set ofcompetitors, some of whom are pretty good at what they do, henoted. Graham recalled a conversation with a client who based theirwhole proposition on service and felt proud of their membersatisfaction rating of 9.4 on a certain scale.

“Unfortunately, the same survey told them that though their hugebank competitor only rated 7.4, their local community banks ratedequal to or ahead of them in most factors, as did somecompetitors,” Graham said.

Members also touted the wide variety of financial servicesoffered and that accounts were easy to manage and understand,according to the ACSI. Credit unions also do a good job atproviding multi-channel services, with members giving high marks toboth websites and call centers.

“Credit unions are very good at multi-channeling. It's helpfulto smaller organizations to maintain a good website and contactnumber,” VanAmburg said. “I know that it would've been nice to askcredit unions a decade ago (about their websites). As a creditunion member myself, my gut tells me their websites may not havescored as well.”

The ACSI also found that unlike bank customers, members believetheir current credit union offers competitive interest rates.

Still, members cited lack of convenient ATMs and branches as themost troublesome aspect of their service experience at creditunions, according to the ACSI. The report noted that bandingtogether with joint ATM network access is one way that creditunions have been able to fill this void.

However, “the combo of the upside of the competitive rates andcosts, the tendency to have fewer fees and better rates whenborrowing money, customer service and community focus, outweighedthis other issue,” VanAmburg said.

Credit union membership has swelled in recent years, hitting arecord high in 2011, breaking it again a year later and on targetfor another record in 2013.

“Data from ACSI helps support what we have known all along –credit unions are here for the members who expect and deserveservice, solutions, and satisfaction,” said Patty Veal, director ofpublic relations as the $1.2 billion Pen Air Federal Credit Union in Pensacola, Fla. Meanwhile,overall customer satisfaction with retail banking is back to itspre-recession level, the ACSI found. Despite rising bank fees,customer satisfaction for banks grew by 1.3% over the past year toan ACSI benchmark of 78, which was up one point from 2012'smark.

JPMorgan Chase maintained the lead with a 3% gain to 76, whileCitigroup jumped 6% to 74, and Wells Fargo edged up 1% to 72. WhileBank of America registered its largest improvement in a decade, itremained in last place, and is the only bank that hasn't restoredits pre-recession customer satisfaction levels.

“Even though banks have raised fees again, the 15th straightyear of such increases, no negative repercussions have beendetected regarding customer satisfaction,” said Claes Fornell, ACSIfounder and chairman.