Americans struggling with credit card debt still slow to forgive lenders

Millions of Americans are still working to find debt relief and get out from under the burdens of the credit missteps they may have made in the past, and that has likely prevented them from generally feeling good about their lenders.

Credit card lenders are the companies that consumers are least likely to forgive when they have a bad customer service experience, likely owing to years of acrimony built up during the recent recession, according to the latest annual Forgiveness Ratings issued by the Temkin Group. The company reviewed customer sentiment for 18 industries, and credit card issuers ranked the lowest by far, with just 13 percent of consumers willing to forgive their lender for a bad customer service experience.

However, it should also be noted that as the economy improves, so too has consumer sentiment toward these companies, the report said. Though only 13 percent of consumers said they'd forgive their lender, that's more than four times greater than the 3 percent who responded similarly last year.

Consumers may be feeling better about their lenders because their personal economic situations are improving and they're getting a better handle on paying down their credit card debt.