Stgeorge Avis 

I've been a St.George customer for years. They blocked my card while I'm living in the Philippines—no warning, no notification, no human contact.

I have severe CPTSD. I'm a pensioner. I was stranded without access to my own money. A friend had to bail me out via Western Union.

Here's what's truly embarrassing for them:

On the same day they finally acknowledged my complaint via the app store, Nucleus Network—a clinical trial company—texted me proactively. No issue. My number works. I'm contactable.

St.George had my phone, my email, my app. They chose silence.

Meanwhile, a recurring Crunchie Roll payment via PayPal went through during the "block." So the block is selective. Arbitrary. Incompetent.

They failed a vulnerable customer overseas. No duty of care. No communication. No accountability.

If a private research company can text me, a bank can too. They just didn't want to.

Avoid if you value your sanity—or ever plan to leave the country.

Couldn't do something in the app as simple as create an automatic payment on my credit card balance. Had to go into a branch to drop off a form.

They then still needed more information from me, so I had to call their useless call centre. After being transferred twice and on hold for 30 minutes, the phone call randomly disconnected. Twice!

Do not use this god awful bank. I'll be cancelling my card as soon as I can.

Second time in a year that large fraudulent transactions have appeared on my account. St George never detected it, I noticed it on both occasions. Customer service appallingly slow and inefficient. Will definitely switch to ANZ or Commbank. St George - never again.

I called to report various fraud transactions on my visa credit card - no lost card or any negligence on my behalf. This was the worst and most unprofessional experience I have ever had. The communication was atrocious.
While my issue is being resolved (I think...?) this is making me consider moving banks...after being a customer for over 20 years

THE ST. GEORGE BANK
FROM A CUSTOMER OF 30+ YEARS

On 02 February I attempted to make a bPay payments for a bill I have received every year for the last twenty years and have paid without any issues. This time however I was asked to enter an authentication code which would be sent via SMS. The SMS never arrived so I press "send again" and it again doesn't arrive. I press "send again" and it still doesn't arrive and then I'm locked out of my account!

After hours and hours on the phone I have failed to have access to my bank account of more than 30 years restored because apparently I've failed the facial recognition test despite the fact I have just done the same test on my facial recognition software without any issues.

My question was, when I was able to eventually get through, if you have changed your procedures regarding bpay payments why did you not tell your customers because if that had been the case there is no way I would have tried three times?

After failing the facial recognition test I am told I have to go to a branch but unfortunately due to illness I am unable to attend. 

Despite explaining this to the consultant all she kept repeating ad nauseum was you must go to the nearest branch. It was like talking to a brick wall. No empathy just pure stubbornness on the altar of security. No alternatives offered. Nothing. Go to the branch the only option. What happens if your overseas and like me fail the facial recognition test? In hospital. Incapacitated.

The Fraud Section of the St. George Bank is not the solution. It's the problem.

I have never experienced such a monumental stuff up and if this is the way St. George treat customers then they need to have a good hard look at their procedures and systems. 

I asked one of the consultants yesterday that why were we not advised that before attempting the third time to make a payment that we would be locked out of our account the response was security considerations. 

What absolute rubbish.

Any scammers would know that but unfortunately the poor bloody customer has no idea. Never told. How hard would that have been. Why was this advice not given online before your third attempt.

So now here I am two days down the track, unbelievably stressed and spending hours upon hours talking to very unsympathetic staff and still can't get into my account to access my account and my money.

Disgusting, inexcusable and in my experience unprecedented. The worst customer experience in my 76 years on the planet.

Absolutely worst !!!! I made a payment through bsb account and it said processing for days and when I asked for help in a chat they blocked my account and made me go to bank to verify myself!! Even the bank had to contact and talk to them to unblock it which took an hour to get my account unblocked !! I had one issue but gave me more !!! The customer service is worst which was rude !!! My exact question was “Why is it processing?? How long will it take “ and the customer service replied “we cannot help call …number and end the chat right away “!! Why would you even would even say that !! Can’t help then don’t make a help chat and if you cannot you should have someone else too this conversation was so simple yet made it so rude !!!never ever recommend !! I will choose any bai other than St George

St George locked our account because we transferred a large sum. We were able to verify ourselves, prove where the funds came from with correspondence from our other bank and made a complaint.

The had varying reasons why they did this, the reasons changed over time. Their fraud team needs a wake up call! They want to protect you from scammers but they are the ones doing the scamming! What a way to keep money in their bank for as long as they can.

The worst thing is we were going to open a term deposit with them as well, but they kinda stuffed that up didn't they. I hope their fraud team takes a chill pill and stop locking people out of their accounts without evidence of actual fraud.

I’m now overseas. My account was suspended. I called the overseas number for help. The staff asked questions to verify my ID. I had problems to understand his questions, as he spoke with a strong Indian accent. Then he said my ID failed to verify. My account is still locked. Customer service, especially on phone, should have someone who speaks clear English.

Phone help has been absolute hell
They basically cut you off and refer you to the website for 99.9 percent of enquiries. Only that website is also not helpful.

After more than 25 years as a loyal St George customer, I have never experienced such a complete and utter failure of basic banking and customer service. I am currently stranded overseas, unable to access my own money for weeks because St George’s outdated system cannot send SMS security codes to my Australian number while I’m abroad. Every attempt to resolve this has been met with brick walls:

Temporary exemptions promised by staff never work.
I’ve been locked out repeatedly, forced to verify my identity over and over, with no permanent solution.
My savings account is now frozen, and my credit card has disappeared from my online portal.
St George’s “support” is a joke: their complaints email bounces, their online form requires login (which I can’t do), and their social media team is unavailable or unresponsive.
Meanwhile, Westpac (their parent company) can send SMS codes to my overseas number without issue, and every other bank I know offers email or in-app verification—except St George.

The lack of proactive contact, the endless runaround, and the inability to provide even the most basic access to my own funds is beyond unacceptable. I have provided proof of identity multiple times, and there are extensive notes on my account, yet nothing changes.

St George’s systems are stuck in the past, and their customer service is non-existent. If you value access to your money and basic support, avoid St George at all costs.

just find out i got restrictions on my account, they need my identifications. that accounts has been operating since early 1990's, when they are still st. george bank building society.
now, i am late with my payment... stupid... i had numerous home loans with them for last 35 years. yes, i can fix it, but too much inconvenience.

Absolute scam of a bank, worst experience i've ever had.

Opened a credit card account with them, and subsequently opened a transaction account to make it easier to transfer outstanding balance into the credit card account. They have prevented me from transferring money out of the transaction account, however allowed me to transfer several thousand dollars into it. They have been no help whatsoever, and after attempting to escalate several times they told me to fly INTERSTATE to visit a branch as they don't have any in my state. That was their solution. Absolutely appalling and I will be taking this further with the AFCA.

Honestly the worst bank you could ever bank with.

Worst banking experience till now in Melbourne, Australia.
I have been trying open a bank account which is a relatively simple process to do elsewhere. They sent me details of accessing like so -
Internet Banking
• Navigate to the homepage
• Click on the ‘Log on’ button to sign into your Internet Banking
• Beneath the ‘My applications’ heading, click on the ‘Application in progress’ tile

Guess what? There’s no My applications heading anywhere and I can’t login or register again. Nor have they provided any security access number.

When I try calling any of these numbers - 1300555203, 1300138179, 133330
neither their accounts opening nor internet banking customer service people could help. I wasted 1 and a half hours just to do this and now they’re saying “go to branch, that’s the only way” … ridiculous! Not opening a bank account with them anymore.

St George Bank have stolen money out of my daughters account from start of this year and calling it "withholding tax" I called to complain before the end of June they said to provide her tax file number before the end of June and it would be refunded. I noticed has not happened so called again 24.7.24 at 7.20pm and they said they are not refunding it now because I did not call back to advise the tax file number is now in their system? I was not advised to call them back. But yet they are saying because I didn't call back they will not refund it. I already pay tax on my wage and using my wage put the money in my daughters incentive account so she could have savings. This is pathetic customer service and the bank has robbed my young daughter of her savings and it should not be called incentive..

Absolutely the worst bank to ever use including commonwealth bank westpac is best so many problems with St George bank

I had the misfortune of dealing with the offshore call centre which was a horrific experience.

I provided feedback to St George on this and have closed my account and taken my banking business to a bank that has call centre staff here in Australia.

I won’t be ever returning to St George.

Great customer service experience. The lady who served me was very supportive.

I have been banking with St George since I was a child.

As an adult, once I stated travelling, I have had repeated issues with them mismanaging my funds and/or unable to process the most basic of transactions. This has left me stranded, without access to my own money on multiple occasions.

I have repeatedly brought these issues up with their support team and absolutely nothing has changed nor have I been offered any compensation for the completely unnecessary stress and hassle having to deal with the customer service department repeatedly and at length.

The 'travel' services offered are particularly clumsy and hard to use. Most recently I tried to transfer myself money from one account to the other and my funds were lost in transit on an emergency situation and still George was unable or unwilling to reimburse me or rectify the situation.

The lack of accountability between departments is frankly shocking. I have more trust in the car to manage my money than one of Australia's largest financial institutions. A worrying prospect to say the least!

DO NOT BANK WITH THIS ORGANISATION IF YOU CAN POSSIBLY AVOID IT!

There systems are antiquated and there support is rubbish. Avoid like the plague!

I have a feeling that the bank is not treating their employees properly. Otherwise they would have shown some interest in bringing new customers on board.

I had to struggle a lot to place my credit card application. I was made to call 5 different customer care numbers and waiting 1hr+ on all of them.

After all the struggle, they just decided to decline my application despite having a very clean 10 year credit history with no defaults and stable job with good enough income.

I was trying to move from my existing credit card to new with the intent of cancelling my old credit card gradually. Looks like St George is absolutely not keen on getting a good customer. That's fine, I will stay with bank that values me more.