Westpac Credit Card Circus

Ladanbro on 15/04/2025 - 23:15
Last edited 15/04/2025 - 23:23 by 1 other user

First forum/rant post…be kind.

I applied for a Westpac credit card early last month. After 3 follow up calls spanning across two weeks, it finally got approved. The application approval process itself was probably the most cumbersome out of all banks I’ve churned with (including ANZ), because they force you to call them when they need additional information, and that involves a 30 minute wait each time. Anyhow, the real problems start as soon as I attempt my first purchase:

  • After getting the approval message on a Saturday, I add my credit card to my Apple Wallet and use the digital card details to pay for a government bill.
  • After paying the bill, I get a notification that my Westpac card has been removed from my Apple Wallet, and I can no longer access my card details through the app.
  • I chat with a banker through the app, and they inform me that my credit card account has been blocked, and that I will have to visit a Westpac branch with 100 points of ID to unblock it.
  • As it is a Saturday and all branches are closed on weekends, I have to wait until Monday to visit one.
  • Monday comes, and I request to my boss that I work from home to sort out some banking problems. I visit my closest branch at 2pm (2 hours before closing time), and after waiting 20minutes in the line, the clerk says that I have to make an appointment to unblock my credit card because it takes at least an hour to do it through several phone calls.
  • Annoyingly, I book an appointment for Thursday 2pm because I have to be in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday. When I visit the branch on Thursday again, I meet with a lovely banker who is as confused about the process to unblock my card as I am. She messages the fraud team from her computer, who says that she has to call this number. After calling this number, we are transferred 3 times, each with 20-30 minute wait times. By the time we get to the right fraud team (there are multiple), we are informed that they are closed for the day because they operate from the East Coast (being in Perth the time is already 3:30pm after getting transferred multiple times).
  • I keep my cool, because I genuinely had a nice conversation with the banker. However she says that there are no appointments available tomorrow (a Friday), and that I would have to come back next week to go through the whole process again.
  • I start to lose my cool, and call up 5 other Westpac branches because I know I would be stressed out about this for the whole weekend if I don’t resolve it by Friday. Thankfully, there is one with an appointment available at 10am.
  • I politely express my dissatisfaction to the banker, and file a complaint with the ombudsman later that night.
  • The next morning, I visit this other Branch and go through the whole process again, except the wait times were even longer for each call transfer. After 2 hours (I’m legitimately not joking about these times), we finally get transferred to the right fraud team, who asked me for further details about the purchase I made. After verifying those details, they unblocked the block they made on my card, but my account is still blocked….because after I made the complaint to the ombudsman the previous night, ANOTHER team placed a seperate block on my card.
  • The fraud team on the phone say they can’t unblock that additional block, so the banker in front of me makes additional phone calls to only get informed that my card can only get unblocked by a case manager that my complaint was assigned to.
  • It has now been nearly two weeks since that happened, and I have not heard back from the case manager despite my attempts to get in contact with them through phone calls and email.
  • I also phone the Westpac Rewards Altitude team to verify that the credit card offer I applied for is still valid, and unsurprisingly they cannot access any details related to my card because it has a block on it.

Anyway, that has been my first experience with Westpac and their credit cards. Anyone else experience something similar???

Financial Credit Card

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Comments

  • jv on 15/04/2025 - 23:22

    TL;DR

    @adanbro expressed dissatisfaction with Westpac's processes and filed a formal complaint.

    • adanbro on 15/04/2025 - 23:27
      +4

      Honestly feel privileged that the first comment I receive on my first forum post is by you.

      • jv on 15/04/2025 - 23:28
        +1

        I feel honoured that you feel privileged.

  • MS Paint on 15/04/2025 - 23:30
    +4

    After 3 follow up calls spanning across two weeks,

    I would have given up way before this stage. What a waste of your time for a free toaster at the end of the year. FFS.

  • randomusername2017 on 15/04/2025 - 23:53
    +1

    Do you have a CBA debit card ?

  • Alvin9 on 15/04/2025 - 23:55

    I have the same experience and might be worst than yours!
    I applied 2 weeks ago and have called them 5 times!! And it’s still processing, they just told me there’s a large amount of customers applying for their credit cards.
    When I apply my current credit card with Commbank I got approved in a day.
    Unreal

  • brad1-8tsi on 16/04/2025 - 07:40
    +1

    Just wait until you have to deal with Westpac as an executor of an estate. Hours and hours of wasted time dealing with uninformed and untrained staff.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 16/04/2025 - 08:15
    +2

    @mapax ADACCHS?

    • mapax on 16/04/2025 - 10:01
      +2

      Approved.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 16/04/2025 - 08:16
    +2

    Churning causes stress. Cheers.

  • fredz0r on 16/04/2025 - 09:49
    +2

    Pretty standard with Westpac/St George. Bunch of Clowns.

  • Wumpus on 16/04/2025 - 09:57
    +1

    I tried to open a business account with Westpac and my application just went disappeared. Even I went to the branch to provide docs and nothing happens after. Call them, got told that i have to wait 10 business days. I waited and still nothing.

    Went on CBA website to apply, got the account open in 5 mins…

  • T-rex on 16/04/2025 - 10:07
    +1

    Have had similar experiences with westpac too with credit cards. Don’t understand how a big bank can be so incompetent.

    • pjetson on 16/04/2025 - 14:11

      Don’t understand how a big bank can be so incompetent.

      Because it doesn't cost as much money as being competent.

  • p0630034 on 16/04/2025 - 12:07
    +1

    I can confirm the same. Was painful to get an application through with them, I had to call multiple times to follow up and get it pushed through.

  • krazek on 16/04/2025 - 20:27
    +1

    Had a similar experience with St George which is owned by Westpac so I am not surprised. Also related to a card getting blocked due to fraud suspicion. Lesson learned, never make a big purchase on a new credit card in the first couple days. And if you do, make sure you get the fraud team on a call during the transaction in case it does…. Sorry to hear about your experience

  • aong152 on 08/05/2025 - 11:07

    I had to
    * call them to confirm who i was since my address changed (had a pre-approved but never acted upon home loan, but no actual account)
    * call them to get a customer id so i could login to the app

    Both of these took 20 minutes.

    However the CC application itself went through automatically (i'm talking 5 minutes, it grabbed all my income/expenses from my CBA account, and then it said i had a virtual card which I couldnt access since i didnt know my customer id)

    Overall around 45 minutes total work isn't too bad for churning.

  • RG on 22/05/2025 - 08:02

    Yes, same issue with the application. Two weeks, many calls. Can't just message or chat online. They said it was a system issue that prevented applications from being accessed by assessors and there was a backlog as a result. They are hopelessly incompetent. I will use another bank next time.

  • sneijder on 22/05/2025 - 15:06
    +1

    When I applied for Westpac credit card it was instant approval, and got the digital card right away.
    From application to start using it in less than 1 hour it is pretty amazing.

  • NAJIB67ibrahim on 23/05/2025 - 21:45
    -2

    Dear Westpac Customer Relations Team,

    I am writing to express my disappointment with the outcome of my recent applications for the Altitude Rewards Black Credit Card (submitted twice) and to seek clarity on the reasons for the decline. As a loyal Westpac customer, I am deeply concerned about how my situation has been handled.

    Background:
    - I have banked with Westpac for [X years/months], with my salary deposited directly into my Westpac account.
    - I applied for the Altitude Black card because of its benefits and my confidence in Westpac, but both applications were declined without clear explanation.

    My Concerns:
    1. Lack of Transparency: I do not fully understand why my applications were declined, despite maintaining a stable income and a long-standing relationship with Westpac.
    2. Credit Score Confusion: While I acknowledge the role of credit scores, I believe there may be errors or misunderstandings in my financial profile that need addressing.
    3. Customer Loyalty: I expected better support given my history with Westpac, and I am disappointed that my loyalty has not been acknowledged during this process.

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