Bank First

Waste of time. These morons gave a st^pid password that wouldnt be accepted. It had some strange symbols that aliens dont even use. Dont waste your time with these amateur ret#rds. Theyll misplace your $ as well.

Applied for a new credit card with these guys and provided all the documents and verification they asked for in their application process. Received a follow up email asking for 9!!! additional documents. A bit ridiculous for a 5k credit card. Go elsewhere Show details

Having been a member for nearly 50 years I was disappointed to have to close my account. Poor service, unmanageable limits on a large account and unprofessional custom service. Need to catch up with other banks or more customers will leave! Show details

Excellent banking service – Joined in the 80s when graduating from uni. Excellent service since with on-line and occasionally when I needed to speak to someone. Financial planning service suggestion was to take out an investment loan which seemed a bit self-serving but it helped to understand this option. Show details

Bank First – I joined Bank First when it was Teachers Mutual Bank and they've always been great. Their app is easy to use and does what it should, their rates are not the best but they're pretty consistently good and their practices are ethical - they don't over lend and actually consider the risk to the customer when approving loans etc. Their issuing of… Read more

replacement cards does take longer than other banks and once I had my card automatically cancelled on the Thursday before Easter which wasn't ideal (a security-related incident but I wasn't aware at the time) but I guess it was better than having money stolen. Just today I had a call to verify an online purchase I made (within 5 minutes of putting it through) because it was for a puppy and this must've triggered a scam flag. That's above and beyond customer service. Their reps are always friendly, helpful and provide honest advice, even if it's not in the bank's best interest.

Love Bank First – We obtained our mortgage using a broker through Bank First. Through the broker, the process was seamless for both pre-approval and settlement. In fact, our final finance approval was approved within 2 days of signing the contract! The customer service has been great. It would be great if we could link a second offset account to our mortgage, but I’m not complaining, and hopeful it’ll come in the future. I’d highly recommend Bank First Show details

Horrible bank. Have been trying forever to negotiation rate for our two home loans with these guys and they never manage to match what the other banks or even big banks are offering! Now looking into alternative banks to move both my loans to. Sick of the ongoing burden of emailing them every few months with the same disappointing outcome telling… Read more

me they can’t reduce the rate or match other banks. As well this staff are always busy, wait time on the phone to talk to anyone is always long and it takes them days and days to reply to emails. Avoid these guys as I can’t see anything stand out about this bank.

I’ve been with Bank First since 1978 ( when they were originally the VTU credit Union ) and run by teachers. I went in a few days ago because I was having trouble with my debit card it appears to have the chip damaged. The guy behind the desk didn’t give me my cash until I answered a few questions(?). Was I an Australian citizen and was I attached… Read more

to any political party. I answered yes and no to these questions but fail to see if it is any one’s business and nothing to do with my account. The 2 people on the desk were Cambodian.Hmmm ?

I joined this bank more than 20 years ago, when they were still known as Victoria Teacher's Credit Union. Their service was great and though I hardly had to call them, everytime I did, the staff were friendly and amazingly patient, as I kept forgetting my verbal password for their phone banking. Not this time. After more than two years of not… Read more

using the phone banking, the young customer service officer refused to do anything over the phone for me, because I failed to remember my verbal password. He became impatient when I tried my best to explain that I used to be able to reset my password over the phone, and I had all the account details to prove that I am indeed the account holder. He told me that I "could be a scammer" and if I don't want to use the verbal password anymore, I have to email them to have it removed. I emailed that email address more than a month ago, and so far no one has responded. But if I call them again, I will be asked for the password that I can't remember anymore, so I won't be served. Obviously he decided that I am a scammer anyway. Today I tried to withdraw some cash to buy a takeaway dinner, but it turned out the bank locked my card for whatever reason that I cannot think of. I called the bank and it was outside their business hours. I stood at the ATM dumbfounded. Bank First's customer service doesn't operate outside 8am to 6pm on weekdays and both days on weekends. I work a f/t job and a weekend job. I will never be able to make that trip to their Camberw branch to demand them to resolve my keycard problem, unless I take a leave from work! Meanwhile, I have no access to cash at all. What a disaster. Time to leave Bank First which now should be renamed "Customer Last".

Shocking Unprofessional Experience- Avoid this bank at all costs! – Terrible treatment for a long term customer. Told many times over several days that somebody would return my call but nobody did. Was led to believe that loan pre-approval was going through but the broker had left and everybody else refused to help. They continually avoided my calls and refused to help or even call back to discuss my needs and… Read more

requirements, absolutely shocking experience! When I talked to the call centre operators daily, they continued to ‘guarantee’ that somebody would call be back and help me. I can see why their staff are leaving, if customers aren’t yet, they will be soon! Would NOT recommend this bank and I look forward to finding a new bank very soon. Very frustrating, time wasting and terrible. Useless unreliable service and bank!

7 year itch – anyone notice that all the good reviews are from 7 years ago...looks like ai hack by the bank. i have been on phone trying to talk to someone 28 minutes so far!!!!!!

BankFirst should be renamed BankLast – 100% BankLast. I've had accounts with BankFirst since I was a teenager, now in my 50s. Their service sucks. New internet banking is fancy but I still can't do a funds transfer for a property settlement without waiting for a human to pick up the phone and assist me. This is ridiculous, it's 2024 for goodness sake. Recently cancelled my credit card,… Read more

next steps are to redirect my salary and stop banking with them altogether. Very, very disappointing. Down the toilet in the last 6 months.

Drop out – Everytime I ring the bank first on-line, when they get through the blurb and advise the number to ring for service needed the call drops out on the specified number. The poor on-line service is the reson I have opened an account with another bank as well. Service there far superior and I have access to money in emergency.

Bankfirst really has gone downhill since it was known as "Victorian Teachers Credit union" – Iv'e been a customer of this bank for OVER 20 years and they wouldn't even approve a crummy loan of $25,000 for a used car that i needed ... pathetic. The woman who called me just now was very dismissive and unconcerned, proceeded to talk complete nonsense about the "serviceability" of my loan even though i am WELL above repayment capability and have great credit. BANK LAST Show details

Bankfirst just don't care anymore! – UPDATE - I finally got my money back!! I was told it would take 60 days (30 days for Bankfirst investigation, 30 days for VISA investigation). It took 86 days! As one of their phone consultants confessed, Bankfirst's processes are 'clunky.' I have transferred most of the funds out of my Bankfirst accounts. I DON'T TRUST BANKFIRST - NEITHER SHOULD… Read more

YOU!! Interesting experience with my bank of more than 40 years. I had a unauthorised withdrawal from my everyday Bankfirst account, more than $1000. It left less than $100 in my account. Fortunately I had another account with another bank to get me through. Not that Bankfirst seemed to care. Apparently I have to wait about 2 months to get my money back. I also had to hound Bankfirst to get a confirmation email that they had received my transaction dispute form. My daughter had a similar experience with her ING Bank account. ING deposited the missing amount in her account while the matter is being investigated. No such care or service from Bankfirst. This is definitely a different organisation from the VTCU that I started with all those years ago.

Ridiculous wait time on hold with no call back service – Trying to speak to someone is ridiculous. My wait time record is just under an hour. As I write this I've been on hold for 10min with no call back service. All I want to do is increase my daily limit for transaction!!@

Bank Absolutely Last – Absolutely do not bank with Bank First. I have been a member for my entire adult life, sent them an email to change my home address to get a replacement bank card which was sent to an old address and then was compromised and used by someone else. Called their helpline who really couldn't care - they send replacement bank cards activated through… Read more

the mail, a huge and unacceptable security risk in 2024.

Had no reason why they didn't get my email, apparently a "tech fault" that'll get looked at...sure.

They were fantastic when they were VTU but have really dropped the ball as Bank First.

Should change their name to Bank Last because I'll move over to one of the big 4 banks and it'll be the last bank I will ever use again.

Long time customer looking elsewhere – Wasn't going to share, but now reading recent reviews I see that my experience was not a 'one-off'. Have always had great experiences with this bank until 6 months ago. I tried to withdraw money and renew a term deposit during my lunch break. Due to the long wait I was very rushed so when the teller said I had another term deposit maturing and… Read more

would I like to roll it over I initially questioned her but she insisted so I agreed. Checking my accounts online later, I discovered that a new term deposit wasn't there, and the 2nd term deposit had actually been taken out of my everyday savings account and established by the teller. When I rang customer service to ask what had happened to my new term deposit there was no apology only " Oh she just forgot to click a key. I've fixed it now. " And the 2nd term deposit? Apparently because I had previously been halfway through an application online, the teller decided she would complete it.... without my consent or explanation .Again no apology from customer service. Have lost faith . Am looking elsewhere after decades of being a loyal customer

Poor service – Tried to log into my online account only to be confronted with a change of banking rules which I had an option ( so I thought) of accepting or declining. After reading new changes I decided declined where upon I was locked out of my account!!! It appears if you do not accept their new proposal you cannot use your online bank account. Very odd. Been with this bank for nearly 20yrs never had such bad service. Show details

A shadow of its former self - Appalling – Wait times to speak to someone, anyone are 1-3 hours as a minimum. Outside of saying they are making changes, recruiting etc, I’ve been hearing this for almost 3 years now. So many platitudes about commitments to service, but actions (or non actions) speak louder than the constant platitudes shared publicly. My older in laws literally had to… Read more

drive to a branch to get a resolution on something.

Not even close to being a bank that prioritises its Members.

Avoid.

The Bank a victim of poor management – The Bank was as many people have stated was a people centric bank, it has probably suffered from lack of investment in its technology and staffing as it competes with the bigger banks. The merger seems to have meant its become the small cousin and has really deteroited you can see the sharks circling as it will end up being swallowed. Show details

Don't waste your time – If you enjoy spending hours on the phone listening to hold messages and not being able to move your own money around, get on board! Used to be great... now... couldn't review them low enough. Stay away

No longer the GREAT VTCU it was – MON. 8 Jan 2024. Over an hour waiting for 'consultant' to answer phone, while they kept telling me , I could " press 'z', hang up and hold my place in the Q" and they would call me back. ( I've tried that before... they never called me back) ...so no, I do not recommend you take that option. The Old Credit Union was VERY Customer Centric, with… Read more

excellent Response times and quality assistance, bur with EVERY name change, the old VTU DISSAPEARS, and a less good model is installed. Very Sad. Used to be THE BEST Bank, and I recommended it to everyone. Now. Not so much.

Terrible service that doesn't get close to meeting their own standards – We have been customers of Bankfirst for decades and have noticed a sharp decline in service. Emailed them on 5 Dec with a problem because I didn't want a long wait on hold. Got the auto response saying they'd be back to me within 72 hours. Went into the branch after two weeks to see when a response might come. Was told they got so many queries on… Read more

that particular topic, they probably haven't got around to it yet. Was asked if I wanted to leave feedback. Branch staff entered my "feedback" (i.e. how about a response to my email) and I got a response (of sorts) to my feedback the following week apologising for not meeting my expectations. What? They haven't met their own 72 hour response time expectations by a mile! Anyway, now a month on and still no response to the original email. It's symptomatic of a continual decline in Bankfirst's service. We'd love to move to a better alternative.

Terrible service and very disorganised – We attempted to open an account with Bank First, but the service was so bad we cancelled our application. We supplied all relevant details on application and then received calls asking for more information. That was fine as we understand they need to verify details and identity. Over the next 5 days we received calls from a further three staff… Read more

members who were asking for the same details. We explained we had given them however they insisted (and became heated) saying we had not. There was no communication between staff, the process was long and arduous. After a week we asked to cancel the application as they were putting too many hurdles and the customer service was substandard. It is concerning the tone and manner they used with a new customer! Not recommended

A disgrace. Worst card you could have – The Visa Card I was issued by Bank First DOES NOT HAVE RAISED DIGITS. It is 3 years old and all of the printed digits have been wiped. Notified the bank when I received the card and [Name Removed] claimed that this is the new style. Well good luck to anyone who forgets the digits. I have memorised them BUT still shocking!

Excellent service no fuss bank – I don't know what's happened at BankFirst in the past 7 months but they are a shadow of their former selves. Customer service has plummeted. Every time I try to reach them by phone I'm informed there's a 45 minute wait time. I'm fed up. I've left emails about wanting to open a Term Deposit and they don't answer. I've emailed them about credit card… Read more

replacement to "cards@bankfirst.com.au" and they don't respond. I have left my previous 5 star rating below that I wrote 11 months ago as a testimony to show how far they've dropped IMO.

Previous review, May 2023 - "I also joined this bank as a teacher when it was Teachers Mutual. I introduced my partner to them also. Both of us have had nothing but consistent, friendly service from these folk. I have travelled OS on a number of occasions and when a sus transaction has come up, they are quickly onto it and are straightforward in their comms via email which really helps when you are faced with high costs via a roaming phone. We wish they had a facility to host our SMSF cash account but sadly not. We couldn't say enough good things about them to be frank..."

Terrible and unethical service by Ashley Hood the COO – I had business dealings with Bank First’s Chief Operations Officer Ashley Hood, I found him to be the most unscrupulous individual I have ever encountered in the banking sector. After giving me his word on a deal not once, but twice, he then reneged citing personal reasons for this. I was left in financial crisis as a result of his deceitful behaviour.