NAB Bank the worst bank in Australia

Money Health Insurance
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I deposited money cash and cheque thru Austpost to my business account, the post office did everything right, next morning NAB has put a clearance on the cash, I cant access the cash until the cheque clears, tried getting help from branch and assistance from the call center No good, 7 calls were made over the course of the day. total time on the phone 5 hours all up , each call got me angrier and angrier , then they have the hide to say to you if you dont calm down we will hang up. My reply to NAB is if you fixed the problem in the first instant then no one would have been screaming at you.

Customers have a right to get angry and emotional, This bank spends millions trying to win new business , they could save twice as much if they just looked after the customers they had. This is not the first complaint to date with this bank I urge everyone to list their grievances on here until NAB comes out and apologies to all of us, Your organization lacks transparency and hiding behind a call center will not help you , the grievances against you will grow and grow until you treat your existing customers with respect.

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Time to tell the NAB to where to shove their bank and move to another.

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Welcome to the Community Darrenpb!

Can you clarify the issue, so I can understand. Is NAB refusing you access to the cash, until the cheque clears, or given you access to the cash, but not the cheque (until it clears)?

Eg if you deposited $500 cash and a $1,000 cheque, are they not allowing you access to the $500? Or did you want access to the full $1,500?

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Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your issue, but yours is not the worst that NAB have done.

You wrote

This seems to be contradictory. I am assuming that "put a clearance on the cash means that it became accessbile to you. Then you say that you couldn’t access the cash until the cheque cleared, which means that the cash wasn’t cleared. So did they clear the cash in the morning or not?

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I think it is supposed to mean that the NAB has decided the funds associated with the cheque won’t be available until it has cleared.

This seem standard practice with banks unless there is some sort of special arrangements with a bank. I wonder if @Darrenpb had special arrangements which haven’t been honoured in this case?

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the money was put into the account together with a cheque which was given clearance, the two items showed up as separate , however NAB went into the account and then applied clearance on cash money effectively freezing up all my account for 2 days, where it becomes the worst bank, is the attitude of the bank they had me on hold for 5 hours over the course of the day 7 Sep calls were made, even the ability to connect to the correct branch was a failure three wrong branches because staff cant speak English , this was a very bad example of customer service

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The confusion amongst members who have replied might shed some light on how problems communicating with bank staff may arise. ‘Clearance’ is an unusual word in the context you are using.

Rather than discuss the cash being ‘applied with clearance’ in my experience it would be more common to state ‘a hold was put on the cash as well as the cheque’. The collection process for the cheque would normally be understood as ‘clearance’, and explicitly, ’ cheques are held for clearance’ not that 'clearance is applied.

That they applied a hold on a cash deposit is indeed a very special customer abusive action, but sometimes a choice of words can make an issue harder to resolve than it need be. A good analogy is the difference in terminology accountants use in double entry bookkeeping as compared to a consumer trying to balance their accounts. It can be mind bendingly difficult to grasp, yet has no bearing on one’s English language skills.

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The better term would be withholding the availability to use the proceedings from the cashed cheque.

@Darrenpb, do you have a special arrangement with NAB to instantly clear cashed cheques?

Most banks when a cheque is deposited take 2-3 business days to process the cheque and make the funds available to be drawn upon. The cheque however, when deposited appears as a transaction in your account but won’t be added to the balance until the cheque is cleared. NAB, like other banks, explain this on their website:

Cheque payment information | Help and guidance - NAB.

The approach NAB takes is standard across the financial and banking industry, unless one has special arrangements with the bank. Special arrangements may occur if a business has sufficient funds in their accounts which far exceed the value of any cheque presented. In such cases, a bank any immediately release say cheques up to the value of $1000 knowing that if the cheque is dishonoured, the businesses account has sufficient funds if the cheque amount is subsequently removed from the account balance.

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Thank you @phb & @PhilT for clearing the terminoligy up.

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Jeez, I had a ‘special arrangement’ - so called - with NAB for a decade. When I closed an account the teller asked the manager to have a word with me; “can we change your mind” etc. The response was shrug and a FO. Thanks NAB.

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ASIC have commenced legal action against NAB for alleged failure to help many customers facing/suffering financial hardship. ASIC news release follows:

ABC article about it

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Well let’s see how the exact same case goes against Westpac (23-242MR) scheduled to be heard next year.

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My neighbors husband was placed in residential Aged Care (Dementia wing) in early 2024. I have been assisting her with things financial.

My neighbor is 80, uses a walking frame and has significant health issues.

She controls her husband’s CSB account into which his pension payments are received and from which his aged care fees are paid. The account has been in decline since the husband’s admission to aged care.

Advice was received from the NAB bank that her husband’s fixed term deposit was maturing and sought instructions as to what action should be taken.

She attended the bank branch on 2 July 2025, presenting what she believed was the appropriate legal documentation and asked that the funds be transferred to her husband’s CSB account. She was advised that “Head office” would need to be involved and feedback would be given within 2 days.

No feedback was received and phone messages to the bank branch went unanswered. A complaint was lodged with the NAB on 4 July 2025.

Repeated phone calls were made to NAB’s head office and not once was a promised return call made by NAB, nor were any NAB initiated calls received at any time since the complaint was lodged.

A complaint was lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) regarding the lack of action and lack of contact by the NAB.

A letter from NAB was received via the AFCA by email on 4 August 2025.

It transpired that my neighbour had presented an Enduring Guardian document rather than an Enduring Power of Attorney.

Why did the NAB not advise my neighbour of the mistake at the initial contact rather than some five (5) weeks later



and then only second hand through AFCA?

My neighbour’s solicitor was contacted and a General Power of Attorney, created in 2000, and certified upon her husband’s entry in Aged Care was provided to NAB on 8 August 2025. This document contains a clause which effectively makes the document an enduring Power of Attorney.

Today, 20 August 2025 there has been no feedback from the NAB as to the status of the fixed term deposit and there have been a 100% failure by NAB to return calls as per their given commitment and there remains no NAB initiated contact received since the lodgement of the NAB complaint.

The AFCA complaint remains current.

An email sent to the Chairperson, and individual NAB Board members detailing the above information remains unacknowledged and unanswered.

The lack of common courtesy and respect demonstrated by NAB has been appalling

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