Westpac Appalling Business Behaviour -Warning! #Westpac

[prozac]

WARNING TO MEMBERS !
I have been a Westpac borrower for over 40 years and a customer for longer than that. I am told by my Business Relationship Manager I am what is regarded as a preferred customer, never overdrawn, always repaying on time.

In January Westpac established a new team, the Remediation Team, to identify past Westpac mistakes in customer accounts and to work with the customer to rectify these. I received written contact from this team in January. The letter stated Westpac made an error on my account in 2009 and indicated my repayments would need to be increased by $6,000 per month. I have no problem with the the concept of righting this error so I wrote to them saying in order to financially plan I would need around 6 months with no increase in payments. This was because I made a business decision last year to spend, and spent, a six figure sum in repairs and maintenance on a industrial building in January this year. I also asked for a year by year breakdown of their calculations as my accountant will need to assess my tax commitment dating back to 2009.

Last week Westpac sent another letter saying they had made another mistake, "this was our error", I would now need to pay $52,000 a month instead. My barrister says this letter is like gold.

I wrote to them again asking for a response to my first letter. The person assigned this case refuses to put anything in writing. I do not know how Westpac expect me, or most average customers, to suddenly repay $52,000 per month, every month. Does this mean they will come for my house next?

I am being treated like a character in a Kafka novel. The bank will not respond in writing to my letters despite half a dozen emails requesting they do so. It seems that this new Remediation Team have been instructed to communicate only in telephone calls and not put anything in writing.

Bank with Westpac if this suits you but be warned they are unpredictable and might turn on you.
This is how they treat you when they make a mistake!

Now to notify my Linkedin business network.

#Westpac #Business #Banks

 

[coles525]

Call recording programs.

ACR on google play is just one of many.

Most Aussie states have rulea which allow the call taker (or receiver), ie: customer! to record calls for your personal reasons.

Just like a callnis recorded for quality.... you also cqn have a copy of that exact same recording.

Post automatically merged: Mar 5, 2021

Call recording programs.

ACR on google play is just one of many.

Most Aussie states have rulea which allow the call taker (or receiver), ie: customer! to record calls for your personal reasons.

Just like a callnis recorded for quality.... you also cqn have a copy of that exact same recording.

 

[prozac]

Call recording programs.

ACR on google play is just one of many.

Most Aussie states have rulea which allow the call taker (or receiver), ie: customer! to record calls for your personal reasons.

Just like a callnis recorded for quality.... you also cqn have a copy of that exact same recording.

Post automatically merged: Mar 5, 2021

Call recording programs.

ACR on google play is just one of many.

Most Aussie states have rulea which allow the call taker (or receiver), ie: customer! to record calls for your personal reasons.

Just like a callnis recorded for quality.... you also cqn have a copy of that exact same recording.

View attachment 242572

Thank you coles525. Could be useful. At this stage I have been advised not to take any calls until Westpac have responded appropriately in writing. I do not think that is about to happen anytime soon.

Just be aware this is how Westpac treat their preferred customers of long standing.

 

[Pushka]

WARNING TO MEMBERS !
I have been a Westpac borrower for over 40 years and a customer for longer than that. I am told by my Business Relationship Manager I am what is regarded as a preferred customer, never overdrawn, always repaying on time.

In January Westpac established a new team, the Remediation Team, to identify past Westpac mistakes in customer accounts and to work with the customer to rectify these. I received written contact from this team in January. The letter stated Westpac made an error on my account in 2009 and indicated my repayments would need to be increased by $6,000 per month. I have no problem with the the concept of righting this error so I wrote to them saying in order to financially plan I would need around 6 months with no increase in payments. This was because I made a business decision last year to spend, and spent, a six figure sum in repairs and maintenance on a industrial building in January this year. I also asked for a year by year breakdown of their calculations as my accountant will need to assess my tax commitment dating back to 2009.

Last week Westpac sent another letter saying they had made another mistake, "this was our error", I would now need to pay $52,000 a month instead. My barrister says this letter is like gold.

I wrote to them again asking for a response to my first letter. The person assigned this case refuses to put anything in writing. I do not know how Westpac expect me, or most average customers, to suddenly repay $52,000 per month, every month. Does this mean they will come for my house next?

I am being treated like a character in a Kafka novel. The bank will not respond in writing to my letters despite half a dozen emails requesting they do so. It seems that this new Remediation Team have been instructed to communicate only in telephone calls and not put anything in writing.

Bank with Westpac if this suits you but be warned they are unpredictable and might turn on you.
This is how they treat you when they make a mistake!

Now to notify my Linkedin business network.

#Westpac #Business #Banks

If you know all this to be in error - Financial Services Ombudsman.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

WARNING TO MEMBERS !
I have been a Westpac borrower for over 40 years and a customer for longer than that. I am told by my Business Relationship Manager I am what is regarded as a preferred customer, never overdrawn, always repaying on time.

In January Westpac established a new team, the Remediation Team, to identify past Westpac mistakes in customer accounts and to work with the customer to rectify these. I received written contact from this team in January. The letter stated Westpac made an error on my account in 2009 and indicated my repayments would need to be increased by $6,000 per month. I have no problem with the the concept of righting this error so I wrote to them saying in order to financially plan I would need around 6 months with no increase in payments. This was because I made a business decision last year to spend, and spent, a six figure sum in repairs and maintenance on a industrial building in January this year. I also asked for a year by year breakdown of their calculations as my accountant will need to assess my tax commitment dating back to 2009.

Last week Westpac sent another letter saying they had made another mistake, "this was our error", I would now need to pay $52,000 a month instead. My barrister says this letter is like gold.

I wrote to them again asking for a response to my first letter. The person assigned this case refuses to put anything in writing. I do not know how Westpac expect me, or most average customers, to suddenly repay $52,000 per month, every month. Does this mean they will come for my house next?

I am being treated like a character in a Kafka novel. The bank will not respond in writing to my letters despite half a dozen emails requesting they do so. It seems that this new Remediation Team have been instructed to communicate only in telephone calls and not put anything in writing.

Bank with Westpac if this suits you but be warned they are unpredictable and might turn on you.
This is how they treat you when they make a mistake!

Now to notify my Linkedin business network.

#Westpac #Business #Banks

I will PM you now with some ideas.

Out of interest, what size is the loan and what is the loan term? Monthly repayments of $52k would pay off any loan fairly quickly... so unless you took out a loan (for example) with a 12-year term and they messed up your monthly repayments SIGNIFICANTLY for 11-years, then their maths simply doesn't make sense.

 

[UP4014]

I just closed off all my business with Westpac in February, after writing a cheque to close the credit card they duly sent me a letter saying they owed me $154 and as I have no more accounts could I please contact them about getting my money.

I went into a branch, would you believe they said they couldn't give me the money because I had no more accounts, I rang the call centre and they couldn't send me cheque or put it my account as you guessed it, I had no more accounts.

I registered a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (replaced the Ombudsman) and they are were quite good. Westpac has until sometime in March to work it out what they are going to do.

Sure, it's not a lot of money but it really annoys me how they do this to people and for some of those people $154 s something they need, I'm glad it's not $50K.

If Westpac has an extra $154 off half their customers that's $1B.

 

[prozac]

I will PM you now with some ideas.

Out of interest, what size is the loan and what is the loan term? Monthly repayments of $52k would pay off any loan fairly quickly... so unless you took out a loan (for example) with a 12-year term and they messed up your monthly repayments SIGNIFICANTLY for 11-years, then their maths simply doesn't make sense.

It is a bit hard to get any sense out of a "hit team" that refuses to put anything in writing.
Boy an arbitrator will have a field day with this.

 

[tgh]

Many (most??) folks buy this new age , nothing in writing method of confusing, muddling , manipulating and ultimately cheating customers.
I had a running battle with wow, who refused to write anything down and would only speak in person.
I pointed out many times that I am acoustically challenged and find it difficult to understand non native english speakers.
I even pointed out that this was discriminatory conduct, they could not have cared less
The card is now closed and even that was challenging to execute.

 

[Rich]

Th

I just closed off all my business with Westpac in February, after writing a cheque to close the credit card they duly sent me a letter saying they owed me $154 and as I have no more accounts could I please contact them about getting my money.

I went into a branch, would you believe they said they couldn't give me the money because I had no more accounts, I rang the call centre and they couldn't send me cheque or put it my account as you guessed it, I had no more accounts.

I registered a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (replaced the Ombudsman) and they are were quite good. Westpac has until sometime in March to work it out what they are going to do.

Sure, it's not a lot of money but it really annoys me how they do this to people and for some of those people $154 s something they need, I'm glad it's not $50K.

If Westpac has an extra $154 off half their customers that's $1B.

That's pathetic. A few years ago I accidentally paid $2000 to a NAB credit card that I had closed. As soon as I received the statement and realised I called them and sorted it straight away. From memory that did an EFT to my non-NAB bank account.

 

[jonboixxx]

WARNING TO MEMBERS !
I have been a Westpac borrower for over 40 years and a customer for longer than that. I am told by my Business Relationship Manager I am what is regarded as a preferred customer, never overdrawn, always repaying on time.

In January Westpac established a new team, the Remediation Team, to identify past Westpac mistakes in customer accounts and to work with the customer to rectify these. I received written contact from this team in January. The letter stated Westpac made an error on my account in 2009 and indicated my repayments would need to be increased by $6,000 per month. I have no problem with the the concept of righting this error so I wrote to them saying in order to financially plan I would need around 6 months with no increase in payments. This was because I made a business decision last year to spend, and spent, a six figure sum in repairs and maintenance on a industrial building in January this year. I also asked for a year by year breakdown of their calculations as my accountant will need to assess my tax commitment dating back to 2009.

Last week Westpac sent another letter saying they had made another mistake, "this was our error", I would now need to pay $52,000 a month instead. My barrister says this letter is like gold.

I wrote to them again asking for a response to my first letter. The person assigned this case refuses to put anything in writing. I do not know how Westpac expect me, or most average customers, to suddenly repay $52,000 per month, every month. Does this mean they will come for my house next?

I am being treated like a character in a Kafka novel. The bank will not respond in writing to my letters despite half a dozen emails requesting they do so. It seems that this new Remediation Team have been instructed to communicate only in telephone calls and not put anything in writing.

Bank with Westpac if this suits you but be warned they are unpredictable and might turn on you.
This is how they treat you when they make a mistake!

Now to notify my Linkedin business network.

#Westpac #Business #Banks

This type of behaviour from Westpac does not surprise me at all. I was fed up with Westpac changing my loan margins without notifying me through the renewal process. I moved all my business and housing loans away from them about 4 years ago and haven't looked back. My Westpac manager from that time started his own business and afterwards disclosed to me that his time under Gail Kelly was a major reason for him to leave the bank, given some of the questionable practices the commercial managers were instructed to follow. He was good enough to apologise to me; though I don't see it as his fault. It appears culture and practice has not improved post-Gail.
As it turns out Westpac were caught out making mistakes with me (and obviously others) in relation to non-disclosures around fixed and variable loans from that time. To my complete surprise, late last year, Westpac sent me a remediation cheque for $33,000. Thanks Westpac, it was nice knowing you!

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Call recording programs.

ACR on google play is just one of many.

Most Aussie states have rulea which allow the call taker (or receiver), ie: customer! to record calls for your personal reasons.

Just like a callnis recorded for quality.... you also cqn have a copy of that exact same recording.

I would strongly recommend against this for a number of reasons:

1. In most cases (although not all), it is illegal to record a conversation without the other party's consent.
2. If the recording is obtained illegally, it is unlikely to have any weight in legal proceedings.
3. If the bank finds out, they're likely to get their legal department involved in resolving your dispute, which will likely delay the process (significantly).

You have to remember that OP and the bank entered into a loan agreement. What the bank can or cannot do will be governed by that agreement (pending any goodwill measures). While it is poor (read: pathetic) form for the bank and their systems to neglect converting the loan from interest-only to P&I repayments, OP/the bank are nonetheless still governed by the loan agreement. My guess is that eventually Westpac will jump in with some sort of goodwill measure.

 

[RooFlyer]

1. In most cases (although not all), it is illegal to record a conversation without the other party's consent.

Are you sure about that? My research in this (a year or so ago) indicated to me that you merely had to inform the other party that you were going to record the call.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Are you sure about that? My research in this (a year or so ago) indicated to me that you merely had to inform the other party that you were going to record the call.

My understanding has always been that consent is required to make it legal, which is why call centres will often say something like "this call may be recorded for training and compliance purposes, is that okay with you?".

In OP's circumstances, even if he were to simply inform the bank that he is planning to record the call, the chances are the bank will not proceed with the conversation and involve their legal team.

 

[prozac]

My understanding has always been that consent is required to make it legal, which is why call centres will often say something like "this call may be recorded for training and compliance purposes, is that okay with you?".

In OP's circumstances, even if he were to simply inform the bank that he is planning to record the call, the chances are the bank will not proceed with the conversation and involve their legal team.

I have read reports of people saying "sure go ahead, but I will also record you" to be told the call would be terminated. It's one way traffic.

Regards my original post. I was ok with Westpac wanting to get their "mistake" back on track. I figured we could discuss suitable arrangements. It was only when they subsequently wrote to me telling me they made another mistake and they intended to increase my repayments by $51,000 a month that I saw red as I realised they had no intention of actually discussing anything.

They are treating me as a delinquent account when it is a situation of their making.

 

[tgh]

will not proceed with the conversation and involve their legal team.

..and herein is the unfairness in the communication process.. business and government wants to be able to collect evidence and edit any verbal commitments or mistakes using their telephone conversation recordings , but deny the customer the same facility.
Business and government are, in general , not playing fair ; the law is supporting this process and someone (with time and deep pockets) needs to make an example of them all.

 

[coles525]

Two websites which can provide more legal answers regarding recording calls you make.

1. Syd Criminal Lawyers - Recording calls

2. Who website - Is it legal to record a call in AU.

I personally am legally permitted to record my calls, being in Vic.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

This does not surprise me about Westpac - and length of customer relationship is sadly irrelevant.

I have had a margin loan for almost 20 years, 15 years of those with a Westpac subsidiary when they acquired that portfolio. Apart from no longer accepting new customers to the product, they have effectively discontinued the product I signed up for (no notification) and continuing to provide an interest rate discount. However, if I want to pre-pay the interest for the tax deduction, it will be at their standard rates (20% higher) and I would need to send in an unspecified special request to have some sort of rate reduction to what my product had provided approved. Their customer "service" rep almost seemed to be laughing at me for considering this an issue.

I'm now in the process of refinancing the whole thing with another provider with rates 30% lower than their standard.

I've discovered a similar differential with my home loan (advertised rate for new customers was much lower than I was being charged) but at least the bank there has officially matched it.

Financial institutions make a lot of money out of their sticky existing customers and despite the hassle of switching, to keep them honest you need to monitor and act when you realise you are being disadvantaged or taken poorly.

To the OP, have you discussed this situation with another bank who you might move the business to? And given the error is from 2009, doesn't the 7 year statute of limitations apply?

 

[prozac]

This does not surprise me about Westpac - and length of customer relationship is sadly irrelevant.
...
To the OP, have you discussed this situation with another bank who you might move the business to? And given the error is from 2009, doesn't the 7 year statute of limitations apply?

Yes, I am being courted by another lender. Their business relationship manager knows me well as he is ex WBC and he understands my business, something Westpac has never bothered with since he left 10 yrs ago.
After demanding in writing they (Westpac) respond in writing to my original letter they reluctantly replied but still did not answer the points in my letter. This has left me unsure what they are demanding, the terms etc and any legal liability. No-one at the level I am dealing (Remediation Team) is smart enough to understand the issue, acknowledge it, and respond appropriately. Knowing this, would I ever invest in WBC shares? As an organisation they seem quite incompetent and so managerialy large they cannot make the necessary changes to fix anything. They certainly do not care a tinkers cuss about their income stream, the customer.

 

[flydoc]

Seems there is a bit of in-house tidying up going on at Westpac. Disclosures to the ASX this week included the head of the business banking division moved on after an internal restructure, and the lenders mortgage insurance business was offloaded, seemingly at a loss. Recurring key word in the commentary: ‘simpler’.

 

[prozac]

Seems there is a bit of in-house tidying up going on at Westpac. Disclosures to the ASX this week included the head of the business banking division moved on after an internal restructure, and the lenders mortgage insurance business was offloaded, seemingly at a loss. Recurring key word in the commentary: ‘simpler’.

What would be simpler is if they wrote to me and said they made yet another mistake and I don't need to repay $52,000 per month!
Who can afford that? Not me.

How many people might have killed themselves by now with this sort of bank behaviour? $52,000/m is well beyond my pay grade.