Heritage Bank Online

I've been with Heritage Bank for about 17 years, savings a/c, credit card and mortgage. Each time I've moved house I've transferred my mortgage security over from the old property to the new. Having spent most of my working life overseas I'm retired. My retirement income and pensions are mainly paid from the UK and because of this Heritage refused… Read more

to transfer security on my recent home move because my income was from overseas. Im an Australian citizen.They have been happy to take my overseas monies for 17 years but for no longer. I've now moved everything to Westpac who were happy to accomodate me. Warning to all overseas employees; do not rely on Heritage to handle your finances if your retirement pension is paid from overseas because they will not. They left me high and dry with my mortgage! Furthermore. With all the branch closures it has become nigh impossible to speak to anyone who can help. Move your accounts and don't get caught out like me.

Terrible bank. They make you crazy asking you to fill in, print and send a ridiculous amount of forms, phone interviews etc, only to not approve the product in the end. A product that I had zero problems getting in the next bank I approached. I thought I would support a small bank, but will stay well away from this one from now on. Monumental waste of time! Be aware

Don't think I have a vendetta against this bank. They make themselves consistently foolish by their own stupidity. Look at this missive. They will do anything to weasel out of the fact that they are incompetent. They give out implied threats such… Read more

as we will inform the tax office AND close your account with us if you don't reply to us to cover up our own stupidity. The nearest bank is now a long way away as the one at Cabalaba closed a year ago. Take a copy of this e mail to a branch? Why? So they can cover up their incompetance. Why the threatening nature of this in the e mail? This e mail is confidential and for the addressee only. If you have received this email in error, please do not save or disclose its contents and immediately delete it and notify us. This e mail amounts to implied threats to get their own way out of a mess they have made.

Hi ***** We’re getting in touch as we need you to provide us with a record of your tax residency status for your account(s) held under the following membership(s) with Heritage Bank, membership number ******** Why is this important Heritage Bank is a Reporting Financial Institution under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Common Reporting Standard. We’re subject to regulatory obligations which require us to collect certain information from our customers.

As part of this obligation, we need you to tell us whether you are an Australian or foreign resident for tax purposes. You are still required to provide a Certification if you are an Australian tax resident. If you are a tax resident of a country other than Australia, we’ll also need your Foreign Tax Identification Number.

This Certification should have been obtained when your account was opened but it appears that we do not have a record of it. We’re sorry that’s been the case and have taken the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. What do you need to do?

We need you to provide the Certification by 11 February 2026 so that we can confirm your tax residency status and complete our records.

You have the following options to provide the Certification: Please follow the link below to be taken to the Heritage Bank website Foreign Tax Residency page. Here you will find further information and a link to an online form to provide your Certification. You will require the membership number provided above to complete this option.

Foreign Tax Resident Reporting | Heritage Bank

If the link doesn’t work or you would prefer not to click on this link, you can navigate to the official Heritage Bank website (heritage.com.au) and search for "foreign tax". This will lead you to the same page as above.

If you have access to Heritage Online, you can provide your Certification under Settings > Tax Residency Declaration. Please note this is only available on Heritage Online accessed through a web browser and not through the mobile banking app.

Take a copy of this email into your local branch, and they can guide you through the process in person.

If you have any questions on how best to provide this information, please call our friendly team at 13 14 22.

To find out more about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Common Reporting Standard, you can visit the ATO’s website at www.ato.gov.au . See also the US State Department’s Joint FATCA frequently asked questions (FAQs) via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/while-abroad/Joint-Foreign-Account-Tax-Compliance-FATCA-FAQ.html . When do I need to respond ?

Please provide the Certification by 11 February 2026 by following the instructions above.

Due to our obligations as a Reporting Financial Institution, if you do not provide the Certification, we may need to provide information about your account(s) to the Australian Taxation Office.

We will make every attempt to get in touch with you, however if we can not obtain this information we may be required under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Common Reporting Standard to freeze or close your account(s). We're here to help

Heritage is committed to doing the right thing by our members. We sincerely apologise that we do not have a record of your Tax Residency Certification and have taken the necessary steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

If you have any questions, our 24/7 Queensland-based Contact Centre is available on 13 14 22 or by email to info@heritage.com.au. Alternatively, you can visit your local branch.

[Name Removed] Chief Customer Officer

Click here to view this email in your web browser. Heritage will never send you an email or SMS linking to a sign-in page or asking you to verify or provide personal security information, such as your PIN, online banking passwords or card details. Always go to heritage.com.au or use the Heritage App to securely access your banking. If you are unsure whether an email or SMS is real, you should contact fraudalert@heritage.com.au or 13 14 22 before you take action. Please visit heritage.com.au/online-security to learn about security and fraud protection.

This email is confidential and for the addressee only. If you have received this email in error, please do not save or disclose its contents and immediately delete it and notify us.

Heritage Bank, a trading name of Heritage and People's Choice Ltd. ABN 11 087 651 125. AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 244310

Excellent experience- highly recommend – Organised new car loan as appeared to be the best rate available that I could find. I was impressed by the minimal wait time on phone to find out about loan product. No hidden fees, very transparent. The application was mostly done over the phone, but I was informed prior the time that it would take to complete. Sarah was outstanding with her… Read more

communication and kept us informed throughout the process. I would highly recommend, level of service was outstanding.

New card + i'net queries – Needed to sorted out few problems with my online account & customer service person Christie (@Toowoomba) was bright, friendly & sorted my problems out within one call. Tyou :)

I've just switched to Heritage and very happy from the service – The call center representatives are very professional and helped me with every question I had. Show details

I was given a prepaid Visa card. Unlike other cards, there was no PIN to be revealed. To activate the PIN, the user must go to a website and enter the card details. The website does not recognise the card number. Calling the help desk was a punish. Entering the card number resulted in, you guessed it, an invalid card number. Keep trying different… Read more

option, but then you get an offshore call centre manned by someone with a passive aggressive condescending tone. She kept saying the website has a way to mange the PIN, and insulting me for not seeing it. Problem was, there was nothing on the home page to change a PIN. My guess is that it was after you enter the card number. She claimed the card number was correct and confirmed the balance. As she was not able to provide any type of assistance other than repeat herself while increasing her insulting tone, I ended the call. I half expect the card credit to be used by the time I go to use it.

Heritage bank absolutely sucks. My account got frozen when I transferred money from one account to another because it’s apparently “suspicious” and I’ve called 3 times on 3 consecutive days and all 3 times the same “sorry I can’t help they will contact you when it’s fixed”. Ridiculous. How am I supposed to last without my bank card without even a time period it will be fixed in. It’s been a whole week.

Extremely intrusive requirements for a $15,000 credit card privacy concerns I am writing this review to make others aware of my experience and the level of personal data requested during a credit card application with Heritage Bank. My application was conditionally approved, however the documentation required for formal approval was extremely… Read more

intrusive and disproportionate for a $15,000 credit card limit.

I had already provided three months of payslips, which I consider reasonable. Despite this, I was then asked to provide: • Multiple months of bank and credit card transaction histories across several institutions, including accounts and credit card that were not part of the balance transfer request • Screenshots of outstanding balances showing identifiable account details • Home loan statements including recent transaction activity • Or Screenshots from MyGov/ATO showing my current-year income statement and employer details as an alternative to the 3 months payslip. • A passport photo page, despite already providing a valid photo driver licence

The scope, sensitivity, and duplication of the information requested particularly transaction histories for unrelated accounts and screenshots from government systems (although optional) felt excessive and invasive given the modest credit limit.

Due to these privacy concerns, I withdrew my application and formally requested that all documents provided be destroyed. I was assured by the lending specialist that this had been done.

I strongly encourage others to carefully consider what personal data they are asked to provide and to seek clarity upfront before applying.

Applied for a credit card with this bank. First of all, the process is not from this century. The whole application is over the phone with multiple calls and some lasting more than one hour. Was very patient with the guy over the phone but the process was very cumbersome. Also, I did not feel my personal information was safe with this Bank, they… Read more

don’t use any secure upload mechanisms for your personal information, it is all over email and phone and I wonder how this people pass PCI compliance.

Secondly, for a 12k credit card application the guy asked me for all my expenses and assumed one single income. When asked about expenses they ask for full family expenses assuming you support the full household, Nevertheless application was refused due to lack of income whey they didn’t even consider my wife’s income?

In short, all expenses are important not all your income. Daniel was asking for more income, evidences, statements etc. even when he did not take the chance to analyse why my year to day income was way over my monthly payment to find out there’s actually lots of bonuses involved?

In the end I decided to withdraw my application and not waste more time then Daniel just sent a letter refusing the credit card when I actually withdrew it. Basically worst bank ethic ever. Wonder why the bad reviews

they issue gift cards that don't work, the back of the gift card says "check your balance at vanillabalance.com" however a simple website search shows that this website has been down for weeks, there is a number of 1800 701 224 on the back however this goes to a call centre in India where the person who answers says they will not do anything until… Read more

they get the 16 digit card number. my elderly relative who banks with Heritage bought this as a gift however it appears they got scammed by their own bank.

Dealing with Heritage Bank has been a headache right from the beginning. Their platform is outdated, their processes are time-consuming and cumbersome, and their customer service is subpar. Many of their processes are still based on paper forms rather than electronic applications. For my home loans, they will only issue paper-based statements… Read more

and do not offer the option for electronic statements. Their lending requirements are also overly conservative and, most of the time, make no sense. For instance, for a new loan, they will not accept my bank statements and income statements, only tax assessments. It feels like you are dealing with children. I am planning to move to a different bank soon. Please avoid this bank if possible.

Appalling. Transferred a significant amount of money into one of my other bank accounts. Every other time I have transferred to the same account with the same magnitude of transfer it has been instant. On this occassion after hours did not arrive into my other acount. Called Heritage and person told me that when a transaction has HOL in front… Read more

of it it means it will take 1 to 2 business days to transfer. All my other transactions had this same prefix and were instant. On making the transfer, no notification was given around there being delays. Phone person said that a transfer conducted on the webste is different than doing from mobile app too! I have a CBA and BankSA account and their systems are vastly superior and reliable. I fully regret moving to these a55 clowns for my home loan as this is not the first time I have been messed around with Heritage.

I have been with this bank for years. Really disappointed with their customer service team. Im currently on a new business venture and wanting to cash out a little bit of my equity for cash flow with the two houses I own. They said I can’t touch my assets because I’m new in the business and I have no stable income. That’s exactly my point why I need the bank’s help. But no, I’m left hanging. Once I’m back on my feet goodbye heritage! Show details

Customer service is the worst. I signed up during a $50 promotion period and the bank's system failed to verify me electronically. So in order to get the $50 I have to manually send certified copy to them, not only cost money but also my time. I believe they literally made the eletronic verfification fail so they don't need to pay $50 to their customers. The worst bank! Show details

Very incompetent staff at the head office. I don't know who they employ there. They don't use common sense. After I identified myself but could not give exact ballance to just few cents as my account was restricted and could not login, I was not allowed to speak to anyone bacause she couldn't identify me when I already did. I was asked to go all… Read more

the way to the branch. Supposedly fraudulent transaction was detected but my funds I was allowed to use but when I tried to buy groceries I couldn't for 2 days as my account was frozen. They are interfering with transactions being over suspicious treating me and probably others like a fraudster after banking with them for 36 years. My accounts are closed now and I am happy I don't need to deal with incompetent people. Their motto "People first" is hypocritical. They put money firs not people.

My parents, in their 80s, recently had a brush with scammers and needed my help to ensure their accounts were secure. Unfortunately, the lady we spoke to at Heritage refused to talk to me even after my father gave permission. She made him take it off speaker phone and continued to tell him not to talk to me and that I couldn’t provide any answers… Read more

or clarify what she was asking. It’s a joint account and they wouldn’t even let him talk to his wife about recent transactions when he could remember straight away! I just hope this lady never has to face the same treatment to help her parents. Do better Heritage.

Elder financial abuse – Because I am retired, I cannot get a credit card. I own my own house. I own my own car. I have no debt. I get a full pension. I have some Super, but because I don’t have a job and an income above who knows what level because they keep that a closely guarded secret. They are downright rude and empathetic. We now have a cohort of 20- 40-year-olds… Read more

who are following their precious little policy manuals without regard to the person on the other end of the phone and their personal situation, and if you don’t fit squarely into their box, it’s no good. It's stuff you buddy. So after 50 years banking with them and a long career in public health service I’m now being stuffed by a brainless young digital loans female person and her boss boys with their suits and peaky blinders haircuts. So will the next generation get anything from us oldies? No way sleep in your cars. Have your ugly spider tats and your ugly Botox lips. I’m over you lot. Enjoy being poor when you can no longer work or get old.

No customer service – Frozen account due to what they say may be scam activity. I said i made the transaction they are not fraud. I have called twice and no one has made an effort to call back. Shocking service accounts still frozen. Ww have no control and common courtesy of following up with customers is nil. I have emailed.

Absolutly disgusted with Heritage call Centre – I called Heritage to increase my daily EFT limit, because you can't do that online. They asked for my address, which I didn't answer correctly the first time, due to being homeless after covid and leaving the sunshine coast. They were extremely rude and locked me out of my account & told me I had to go into a branch to unlock it. I said I can… Read more

answer any other question; they ignored me. I called back several times in the next 24 hrs in which the phone call was ended the minute I gave them my account number. I said that's 3/4 hours drive for me, they didn't care. I have SMSF, Business banking with them Just for the record, the poor advice i was given with SMSF account, I'm closing it down and going to Macquarie CMA so much better

Unbelievable – Unbelievably bad wanted to get a swift code to have refund provided to me for a cancelled airline ticket . They advised they couldn’t provide me with there swift code without filling out a form . It is basic information that any other bank is happy to provide really cannot believe such poor customer experience

Just no way near where they should be in the year 2024 with their online banking – Shockingly bad. None of the staff I have interacted with appear to understand basic security in the year 2024 and the online banking system is riddled with issues and limitations. My wife and I have a joint account, however their system can't cope with setting different mobile numbers for the multi factor authentication which is dire. And then… Read more

several consultants have told me that their system doesn't like using symbols so best to avoid using them in passwords....and one consultant said I'm best to keep the same simple password and not change it as thats what she's done re having the same simple password for many years and never had a problem....Just wow and good luck with that!! I have full regret of moving from one of the big banks to save .5% of interest rate. It's just not worth it if managing your money is such a total palava

First and last time – Extremely bad experience. Just opened an account online. You cannot reset your member number or password easily online. The only way is to call them, wait for 15 minutes and speak to some one. You cannot save your password in Google, and if you do you wont be able to log back in, hence you have to call them again. Finally reset password, now they… Read more

said I need to go to a branch or fill out a paper form with certified IDs to open a simple Everyday Account, after already having jumped through many hurdles. Terrible. I will never recommend them to anyone. If you don't want people to open an account and deposit money just dont give that option at all in the first place.

Do not trust them with your money! – This is the worst bank I’ve ever encountered. Their approach to scams is disgraceful. I moved my entire life savings to another bank because after I was scammed, Heritage refused to try and work with the scammers bank to recover my money until it was too late, resulting in the money not being recoverable. When I had to phone THREE times in one day… Read more

to get them to do something, I was treated very unprofessionally. They attempted to phone me once to resolve this but have since ignored my requests to address the issue. I was also told for nearly two years their app would be updated to notify on the iPhone any in and outgoing money but that’s never happened either. If you want protection from being scammed or at least your bank to TRY and help you then I highly suggest you find another bank. I’ve got family member’s who have been with Heritage since early 1980’s and they’re changing banks now too. Heritage you are a joke to the banking industry.

Poor identification service – Unable to cancel any transactions than when I called the operator didn't listen and advised memy account was now locked and I needed to go into a bank! I could have told 100's in regards to my account to confirm my ID. Also been with them 35 years and denied a home loan, I now have a home loan and have withdrawn all money and gone else where. Time to rename your motto

Update on lack of assistance from Heritage – I’m just going to post an update from my review down below. I’ve been chatting to the detective in charge of my case from over 18 months ago, and the hacker has been tracked to overseas. I guess the saddest part about this situation, is I have been loyal to heritage since I was a teen - they were my first bank. Everyone who had been in my… Read more

situation that I have talked to with other banks have been reimbursed. I haven’t even ONCE been contacted by heritage for updates or to offer assistance since this happened. I’ve had more help from an interstate cyber detective. I’m disappointed and angry, that we pay this institution to secure our money, they allow people to take it from you, supposedly, they don’t even block that account name user out from what the heritage representative accidentally told me. This experience can ruin your life, don’t bank with heritage because they don’t care. Go elsewhere.

Most [Content Removed] bank – Stay away from this bank. Most pathetic bank ever. couldn’t close loan application even after 7 months despite providing documents every time. Time and money lost .. will never interact with them ever. Show details

Construction Loan Borrowers Beware – Have had the worst experience taking out a construction loan with Heritage Bank. We have an investment property and a construction loan. Both sets of mortgage legal docs had errors in the loan docs for amounts/addresses which I found shocking and has never happened previously with any other bank. I had to return them for re-issuance. Also the… Read more

valuation process is ridiculous. They did a valuation at outset, then they asked us to take out some of the provisions for kitchen/carpets etc as we could only have 10% provisions. Then they advised they required a valuation for the lower amount which made zero sense when we were approved for more. Then when we put the provisions back in they told us we would have to pay for a third valuation of $600 out of our own pockets due to the change of contract (at their request) which we are still fighting.

They require wet ink signatures on many of the forms to be scanned back and call to setup online banking but will not respond to emails. It's like a throwback to the 90s. Overall so disappointed and will be refinancing once the house is built and they don't have us held hostage anymore. I would advise anyone to avoid them like the plague. I have been with multiple banks and they are by far the worst I have experienced.