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Performance of the major banksANZ 20.8

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QuestionResponsePercentageCommonwealth54.2

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Have the banks kept you on hold longer than 20 minutes?Too Often97%NAB8.3

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Average time on hold to book a settlementAverage time of 20 minutes on hold92%Westpac6.3

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Ever had to re-fax the contract & transfer more than twice?More than once and Too Often100%Other6.3

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Has your client missed settlement through a bank stuff-up?More than once and Too Often94%

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Is the service of banks settlements improving or worsening?Getting Worse by a large margin69%

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Give Reasons for your voteReasonsRespondent

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Due to the head office being in SA they often lose documents and have admitted to the same that they lose these due to couring doucuments from vic to sa. They also often dont know victorian law and our system and go off south australian law and procedures which are different and often cause problemsMarkScroll Down for the responses

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Too long hold-on times to have telephone calls answered.Georgia

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Inept do-dos on the other side of the telephone - i.e. inexperienced and full of attitude (and seem to be getting younger and younger as I am getting older).

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Frustrating procedures that seem to change on a daily basis which mean that once you think you have mastered a particular Bank's settlement booking procedure, they then set about changing it.

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Apparent lack of trained staff dealing with settlements and files at Banks - in general.

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The list could go on and on, but I think I better stop here.

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We continually have to refax a discharge request.

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 When we do we then can not confirm they have received it for 24 hours. This happens to many files and it is when we have previously sent the discharge request a month or so ago. Very time consuming and annoying as by the time we are ready to book it is within 14 days of settlement.Debbie

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I also have had an absolute gutful. I have been doing this for over 20 years and serioustly thinking of giving up. You do not even get paid for all this mucking around. What about the non-banks - you cannot even start there. Have you ever tried to deal with Citigroup!Sonia

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Far too many reasons but to be kept on hold for one hour and fifteen minutes (on STD rates) is appalling.Claire

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I have been doing conveyancing for more than 15 years and I have also worked as a mortgage clerk so I understand both sides. I am proactive not reactive and am becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of responsibility that file handlers take in major Banks. There appears to be a complete lack of training of operators. By that I mean they seem to have some kind of scripted questions they ask you and if you happen to ask for any additional advice etc they have no idea - they do not understand why they do anything they just fill in the blanks. The number of settlements I have either been involved with or heard from other parties where you book a settlement in at the CBA then have to chase them for a payout figure only to be advised that they have no record of ever taking the booking and then make you rebook it and if you can't get the relevant settement date - tough luck. I could go on and on - but what is the point!

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I have been a Law Clerk for 30 years and the Bank's just make my life more and more difficult

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Nil stars - they are all as bad as each other -no one takes responsibility too much buck passing between brokers and banks. IN ESSENCE - BLOODY USELESS and the greatest waste of time known to man!!Ken

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Prior to Christmas the CBA introduced a new system for booking settlements and when they overbooked just decided to cancel the last 20 or so settlements without notifying any of the parties. Everyone turned up to settle to be told that their settlements had been cancelled. During Nov/Dec and January it was not unusual to wait for an hour or more to get through to the settlements area - often only to be told the file was not certified and we should call back.Julie

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the bank's don't CARE. Soozi

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they do not have to speak to the clients or be responsible for the delays in settlement, often caused by the bank. they are just names to the banks. to us, they are clients who we speak with, who are a family with young children, elderly couples, people who need assistance. Care Factor Zero by the banks. So Frustrating. Put on more staff, more telephone assistance, and people who KNOW what they are doing !

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The banks have taken advantage of the lack of unity within the various professions handling conveyancing to force more of their work to the conveyancer.Nick

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Theyr'e all the same.The bottom line is that Banks are reactive not proactive, and control the lending/settlements area like an indian call centre where, if a box is not ticked in sequential mode, it goes in the too hard basket of some uneducated pimply school leaver who has had no training.Do they get their staff from the CES because they are subsidised by the Government?Why do they always work to the lowest common demoninator? Money!Service......none.Customers are numbers like prisoners in a nazi concentration camp.Nick

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I am regularly frustrated phoning prior to a purchase settlement and being told the matter isnt ready to book.Marie

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What I am not told is that docs have been received by client but were wrong and have to be redone.

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If we were advised that docs have been resent on...it gives a timeline. We als know there is no point in constantly phoning settlements to book, put on hold only to be told "not ready" repeatedly.

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It is not uncommon to have made 6 attempts to book without success.

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One of many frustrations

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I find the NAB particularly uncooperative and unresponsive.

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Again with the NAB....... discharge. I will have a client complete and sign a Discharge Release/Authority quite early in the file.

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The Bank will return it to us saying it hasnt been properly completed/executed, with no specific information. I will send it out again with a copy of the information received from the Bank. It will be returned and onforwarded to the Bank only to be returned again, with no specific instructions.

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In this instance after the 3rd attempt - the day prior to settlement, I find out that the is another Borrower (the title and mortgage being in one party's name), and the Bank required his signature as well.

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wot i find frustrating (oh there are many things!) is that we have to work within the bank's time frames, even when they dont acknowledge our correspondence or advise us of their requirementsShelby

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they don't seem to work within the actual contracted dates, it seems to be more about them meeting their service agreements than getting the actual settlement completed on the due date

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I don't know how many times I have been told that someone will ring me back to book in settlement when it is ready. I actually laugh at them now when they say that. If I waited for someone to call me back all my settlements would fall over. I love when they tell you that they cannot speak to you due to the privacy law but they have been speaking to you for the last two weeks about the same file!! Waiting on hold for 45 minutes to be told they are not ready to book when you finally get through and they cannot tell you why they are not ready to book sends you round the twist. Refaxing every little thing five times because they never receive it the first four times you send it just sends you over the edge.Kelly

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CBA Discharges has reached rock-bottom in customer service:-call-centre staff who are unhelpful, long waits on hold, refusal to book in even though they have had instructions from the Branch for a week, excuses ('still being checked'), won't talk settlement until they send the 'ready to settle' fax, failure to do so until the day before settlement, failure to propvide a payout figure until the day before or the day of settlement; all causing huge problems for all other parties and huge amounts of work that we poor solicitors will not get paid for.David

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I have lodged several complaints to CBA and ANZ these banks need to give better service to customers and conveyancersSuzanne

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privacy act crap with anz.Tim

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but westpac and cba are excellent.

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westpac especially and they are friendly.

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The rating below is so that we know they exist. The banks have been told time and time again how bad they are. The AIC have had a compaign with banks existing for over 4 years and in that time nothing has changed. The AIC is now at the process of requesting banks to agree to a protocol. One bank in particular is seriously working hard to fix the problems and is listening to complaints and actively reporting on progresses.Pauline

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Have to wait at least 40 minutes on hold to even get to speak to someone, in order to just book in settlementRachile

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The National Australia Bank would have to be the most inefficient Bank I have ever dealt with - they cancel settlements without telling you why, they make times for settlements that you do not even make, when you ring to advise them of the time you want and you phone back again for another purpose the time is back to the previous time which they booked and not you. Totally inefficient and disorganised.Leanne

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You cant book the settlement in at all until the day of settlement. How are you supposed to provide pay out figures to the other solicitors when you cant even book it in.Jeanette

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Sick of banksGraeme

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Frustration with all banks but particularly CBA and ANZ. CBA has got progressively worse with waiting times of up to an hour, inability to book settlements sometimes until the day of settlement with no one willing to take responsibility and no one able to tell why such a delay. ANZ Discharges is a total disgrace with rude staff who do not know what they are doing and continually tell you things that never eventuate. They will only settle with their original Discharge Authority signed by the vendor but will not provide you with the Authority until a couple of days before settlement even though they've had the request for anywhere up to three months and despite continual faxes and phone calls and agreement that the service is disgraceful with no action taken until they can be bothered. AND don't get me started on Section 27 requests. This seems to be right across the board with all banks, even though you may have given them months notice, they do not start working on files until a couple of days prior to settlement causing us all sorts of problems with organising settlements and getting details. It seems to be that all banks have cut their staff so much that they give no service then panic, rehire and have to retrain staff only to cut the staff again and so the cycle goes. I really don't give a stuff if they're short staffed and undertrained. This is no excuse, they need to do something about it - imagine if we treated our clients this way - WE'D BE OUT OF BUSINESS. In my many years of doing conveyancing I have never experienced such incompetence, lack of accountability and poor service - they've taken it to a new level!!Jo

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their internal process refer back to the branch. Head office take no responsibility for the instructions not being received. The branch does not seem to care whether or not the instructions have been received by head office. We seem to be constantly going around in circles. When we call the number given to us by head office to contact the branch it goes to a call centre and they can only email the branch to pass on the message that we have called. The email never seems to reach the desired person and again the system of going around in circles begins again!!!Tracey

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The NAB recently said it was its own policy for solicitors/conveyancers to arrange for its discharge authority to be completed correctly and returned. I'd like to know where do the banks get off on having solicitors/conveyancers do the bank's work and the bank being paid for such work, ie the bank sees it as our job to arrange for the bank's individual discharge authority to be properly completed and signed by all parties to the bank's mortgage - mortgagor and guarantor. Do you know who has guaranteed your client's mortgage or does the bank have this information? I think it's time for the bank to do their own work, afterall they are charging for doing it.

I have recently had ANZ bank staff blatantly lie with that persons 'team leader' also blindly support that liar as to what time they have called and left a message. Phone message banks are controlled by telstra so I know the time is correct on my message bank but the bank cannot and therefore will not substantiate its own information. This has now happened twice in the span of 1 month and by the same person!!		Faye

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I am sick of wasting my time on things that should be in order, sick fixing things that the Bank clearly stuffs up. Sick of organizing and filling out bank forms (i.e. discharge authorities) which clearly is a bank document that should be completed by the Bank. Sick of answering questions for the Bank when they could pick up the phone and ask the client directly Sick of being charged reattendence settlement fees when the error is from the Bank Sick of Promises of call backs which hardly ever occur. My Time is precious and the Banks clearly waste my time for no other reason bar lack of care and incompetance. Nick

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CBA- purchase settlements - I find that no matter how many times we fax documents no one seems to receive them (honestly they must shred the faxes once they come off the machine). Same thing with mortgage documents our clients might return the documents four weeks prior to the settlement date and the bank still cannot meet settlement. We continue to argue with the booking line but it is just a huge waste of our time, it shouldnt take 6 hours to book a settlement. I could go on but I think it's covered in the other responses.Natalie

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With CBA you can be on hold for up to an hour just to be told that they cannot take a booking yet. Not only does this tie up our phone lines unessarily, but it places tremendous pressure on our office and clients, who may think that we are not acting correctly for them. We have had settlements booked 5 mins before settlement takes place and one where bank called us to book settlement 20 mins after it happened!Trish

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For starters they have had me on hold to book a settlement for up to a hour and more than often and when you finally get through they are never ready to book anyway. They always request copy docs again. They don't follow things up. They don't care about the client's settlement date and don't care if the client is charged interest for late settlement. I actually don't think the people on the phone even understand the process.Kristen

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It is not unusual for my staff to be on hold for over 20mins to book in a settlement only to be told not ready phone back tomorrow. Not only are we paying for long distance calls for all this time but also paying wages for staff to sit on hold. The bank staff take no responsibilty for anything and it is left up to us to chase missing documents etc. Just last week a title went missing and we spent a whole week chasing it from country vic to melb. with both offices saying they had done their bit only to find a week later that it was still in country vic. Surely this is the banks job to chase things between departments not ours. Could you imagine if we just said that is with the settlements department not my responsibilty and hung up the phone. We have had 2 cases this year (only 2 months) with the same bank (Which Bank) where titles have been sent to the wrong place and it has taken us a whole week of phoning between branches and departments to get it to the right place. This is not our job surely the banks should be responsible for sorting out their own departments. We do not get paid enough and I am sure if we did costings some of these files would be losing us money once we took into account the staff hours and phone costs involved not to mention the stress involved and we are the ones who have to deal with the clients and explain why settlement is not going through as planned.Bernie

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STAFF UNTRAINED AND HAVE LITTLE OR NO KNOWLEDGE OF CONVEYANCING. STAFF ARE OFTEN UNHELPFUL AND CERTAINLY UNCARING. I BELIEVE THAT THE BANK'S ARE UNDERSTAFFED AND RUNNING ON A CRISIS MANAGEMENT BASIS WHICH WILL ALWAYS END IN HORRENDOUS ERRORS.Dianne

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Commonwealth Bank has too many chiefs & not enough indians & the chiefs are sitting back smoking their pipes & nothing is getting done!! WHY does it take 5 days to "certify documents"? Certification in Commonwealth-Bank-speak means somebody looking over the documents....how HARD is it? If clients come to me seeking advice about which bank to seek finance through, I ALWAYS tell them to stay away from CBA. Useless bunch of W@#&ersLisa

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The industry seems to be in a decline, inexperienced staff, carefree attitude, difficult to get along with, staffing level seem to be at an all time low, but profits are at an all time high. Some one needs to be made respomsible. Banks miss discharge settlement dates, but still charge interest until they finally get around to settle. It is a disgraceDanny

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I thnk most conveyancers and solicitors are sick and tired of hearing about the big profits the banks are making but at the same time are cutting back on staff, particularly in the settlements areas.Margot

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I don't understand why I get an automated reply fax when I fax the contract and transfer. If you ring up, they tell you they haven't received it and when you mention that you have received the automated reply saying they did, they tell you it doesn't mean anything!! As for the length of time waiting if you have a query - we have had to tag team before so a staff member can go to the bathroom, no way do you hang up but what do you do! It is about time something was done - if we treated our customers like this we would be out of business.Samantha

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PS Yes it is Westpac and also Commonwealth / Colonial. I actually have had them tell me that those auto replies don't mean anything! Whenever we get them I always refer to them as the "we might have received your fax but we aren't going to tell you" replies. Drives me nuts.

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Does not matter how much notice you give them you're still trying to book at the death knell and most often lately on the bloody day !!!!!!!#&!!*&Michael

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30 day settlement. Bank asked client to sign docs on Friday 15 August 2008, which should have been day of settlement, the reason being the valuer had been sick for 5 days. Settlement was delayed until Tuesday 19 August, although we were told it could possibly happen on Monday. Settlement was to take place in Geelong so agents were organised to attend. Unable to get any information from bank, either Head Office or in Geelong as to whether settlement would happen at suggested time on Monday, so agents were sent 'just in case'. However, bank had lost some documents (or not had them property signed) and unbeknown to us the bank were faxing documents to purchaser and broker was running around getting documents resigned. Consequently, settlement did not happen until Tuesday. Fortunately, our clients were not charged penalty interest by the vendor and the only extra cost to them was an extra $35.00 fee to agent for reattending settlement, which we suggested they claim fro m the bank. Clients were so happy settlement had occured eventually, they did not want to deal with bank again. Timewise to us, a whole morning was wasted trying to get information as to whether settlement was taking place on Monday or not and contacting agent, clients, broker etc, all to no avail. On Tuesday the bank contacted us and abused us for not going through the proper channels!Trish