St.George Home Loans

Outsourcing vital customer service is not worth it – If without the sincere assistance of a branch staff member, the out-sourced mortgage team of St George Bank would not even worth the one star rating. A simple process of discharging a home loan took a whole month! During which we had been on the phone 6 times every time talking to a different mortgage team member. Most of the time were wasted on… Read more

being put on hold, explaining the problems repeatedly and fixing the silly mistakes they made on their end! No one seemed to know what's happening and what each others were doing. Even the staff members at the branch were puzzled by the mistakes they made. A typical example of how outsourcing vital service to inefficient and incapable team members has been damaging the reputation of St George Bank.

Harassing customers daily with phone calls! – Stop with the harassment and calling your customers ten times a day for late payments. You should look after your valued customers and offer support where needed.

Not worth the effort – St George has hit rock bottom. I've been banking with them for over 40 years. When I asked to review my mortgage interest rate they gave me the rate displayed on their Web site. They said they can not do better. Many banks have better rates. I chose one that I'd never banked with before and will save .5% But st george are now holding up the change over process. They are pathetic.

Amazing customer service and very consultative – I had the pleasure of speaking with Sophie from STG's Kogarah team, when it came time to re-fix my home loan which was coming off a low rate fixed term. I highly recommend Sophie to be coaching the other retention staff at St George as she had an amazing disposition and offered a comprehensive solution to our rate-cliff scenario. She was able to… Read more

offer a tailored solution based on the tenure of the loan and ensured she was able to minimize any costs we had to incur to re-fix the loan(s). Kudos to you Sophie for going above and beyond your job spec and finding a great solution for us. Thank you!

Great – I have refinanced once before through a broker, and this time went directly to St George. Process was pretty easy in comparison to the broker, I dealt with Tim from QLD who was great and responsive via phone and text. I got my 4k cashback in a reasonable timeframe (not straight away). Some of the T&Cs with this are a bit random, e.g. first payment… Read more

must come out of a st George Bank account. We had to set up four!! accounts in total to make it work, a joint account for myself and husband, a personal one for me, a personal for him, and a joint home loan. This sounds awful but wasn't too bad in reality. However their internet login is very hard to use. Neither my husband or I could get in, asks you for security prompts etc that we never remembered setting up. I got mine fixed via phone, however my husband tried the phone line and went around and around in circles with the same press 1, 2 etc prompts, and still can't access his accounts online. Have to say the cashback $ is good. We still can't access redraw, apparently this is only available once we make our first auto payment. Tim's communication was good.

The process was seamless and efficiently handled – I have been a customer with STG from early 1990 and approached the bank for a homeloan late February 2023. As luck would have it Gagan Kumar Mobile Lending Manager from the Paramatta branch contacted me and from then on all of the heavy lifting was done by Gagan. Throughout the process Gagan constantly kept me updated on all of the issues, hurdles… Read more

and wins. He knew his product, he was capable, efficient and handled this with attributes customer expect from a banker. Yesterday the property was settled and the process could not have been any smoother. My honest recommendation is, if you are out there looking for a home loan approach Gagan Kumar. Talk to him. Gagan has a "can do attitude" and will get the job done.

Delays…delays..delays – Ridiculously slow. Doesn’t deserve 1 star! Writing from the perspective of a seller waiting for settlement (buyer went with St. George) They seem to constantly want extra paperwork and keep delaying settlement. It’s been 2 months since the contract of sale has been signed and we’re still waiting which is costing me more money paying for 2 homes,… Read more

while the first is waiting settlement. As a seller this is extremely frustrating. Don’t chose this bank if you ever expect to settle

Home loan scam – Unfortunately not everyone is lucky to get there money back , The fraud department is hopeless in St.George Bank When someone withdrawal $160,000 from your home loan, some how no one can give answers, this was on paper back then 2003 with falsified documentation with random signature and random phone number, They couldn’t of checked ID either, More likely it’s the banks stealing from hard working citizens like we seen last few years,

Avoid avoid avoid – Same as what others below have said. Lost money with them due to hold up in settlement 3 times. Ending up having to report their inept supposed finance manger to the financial ombudsman who compensated me. Since joining I’ve had 17 interest rate rises (not 13 like media is reporting across the industry as a whole) In fact it had already risen 3 times by the time they finally settled after the whole debacle!

You'd get better sense out of a 15 year old on Meth! – If you look at all the various locations to leave a review such as - "Productreview" ( 1.2 * ) - "Google" ( 2.1 * ) - "Trust Pilot" ( 1.8% * ) & even "Glass Door" which is a staff platform, they can only scratch up ( 3.6 * ). What a woeful pattern of the level of satisfaction they give to their customers. Personally I have experienced nothing but… Read more

total incompetence and frustration. They delayed a settlement of mine costing me money and I had to complain to AFCA to get compensation. DO NOT USE them.

SLOW, painfully SLOW – Finally received, and signed, the St George application to refinance, from another bank to St George, on 22/9/2023. What followed was an ongoing struggle to satisfy all their requests. Satisfy one request, then another would come, again and again, frustrating both the broker and us. Finally a date was given to exchange and discharge the previous… Read more

mortgage, 02/01/2024. The date was reset time and time again, about ten times, and it finally settled four weeks later on 31/01/2024. It was delayed long enough to exceed the 120 day limit for the $2000 cashback offer!!! Uncanny! Well over FOUR months, for a straightforward loan, 60% equity, repayments more than 80% covered by rental income, and using a broker! FOUR plus months!!!

Pathetic service / zero if i could – I rang st george bank hotline as I have transaction has been taken out of my account for which is not my transaction. Apparently they dont think fraud happens 24 hrs a day, I pathetic service I will changing my account Show details

Investment home loan approval – AVOID!!... UNBELIEVABLY SLOW!.. I found that ST G investment home loan processing time is unbelievably slow. It's an absolute NIGHTMARE..... I have had to extend my contract to purchase 3 TIMES NOW already and I'm STILL WAITING I am told the application is being ASSESSED through this bank and my broker has escalated this twice now. STILL WAITING... Show details

Worst Bank.... Don't go even if you get world's best interest rate – My Construction loan has been stuck with their own internal team due to internal politics. They absolutely don't care about customer even i would say that their employees hate their customers. Their Policy has been updated on construction loan and according to policy i am compliant but their IT system is not updated and it doesn't reflect the… Read more

policy now their own staff have no clue what's going on.

There is absolutely nobody there to help. My construction loan has been pending for approval from last 3 months. Unfortunately my land loan is with them so i am thinking to refinance with other bank and proceed because with St george it has been an never ending process.

Heart broken – Refinancing to St George has been the worst decision of my life. I wish I’d read these reviews instead of trusting my mortgage broker. St George have made countless errors and I’m trapped until I can force St George to take some action to fix their mistakes. They are the most incompetent business in Australia who just hate their customers. Please avoid this bank. Show details

Worst customer service – Very slow to respond and very bad customer service. Very slow to respond to home loan application. Things will always go wrong with St George.

Blindsided by false St George Bank conditional approval – Pre-approved loan amount reduced by $300k by my amazingly unresponsive, dispassionate loan assessor during the cooling off period for a house purchase. No change in my financial circumstances and all conditions in the pre-approval satisfied. Lost my house deposit, out-of-pocket in conveyancing and building inspection fees. St.George Bank getting in to the festive spirit in 2022. Kudos. Complaint to AFCA lodged. Show details

St George Bank's disappointment – St George closed our local Branch which is very annoying. We had a great service person. Now the service is ......crap. However, the issues are: - St George's current home loan rates for existing customers. - We have been a customer for 30-plus years. - I contact St George approx every 6 months to get a discount. - They generally do apply a… Read more

discount. - Recent was 3 weeks where they cut 0.05% - My issue is: 1) They are offering new home loans at a rate of approx 0.5% of what they offered us. 2) Westpac, which is basically St George has a further 0.6% discount. 3) They HAVE no email contacts. 4) The reply I got when they did advise the discount was " email not monitored". 5) They advised a contact number which was the :general: number. 6) Had to go thru the hoops to finally get the Home loan number 7) Have called 3 times...average wait is 93 mins. Now on hold and this one is ...at present 124mins.

AVOID!!! – I have a Home Loan with St George. Worst decision ever. Customer service is non-existent. They are rude. Unprofessional. Do not care. Worst worst worst Bank and Mortgage lender I have dealt with. Do not use them. Run far away. Plenty of other better lenders out there. Show details

Don't waste your time with these clowns – They do not want your business. Costed me two months of my time and about $32k in equity I could have drawn. Applied online to refinance on June 16. A lending manager was assigned but no contact from him, so I contacted him on 24th and scheduled a call for the 27th. The call was all good, sent all the required documents, and then nothing...… Read more

Nothing for a month. I sent an SMS asking for an update on July 25th, but no reply. After about another week, I contacted St. George through their chat and they sent a message to the lender, but no contact again. Called St. George on 16th Aug to find out my application has been closed. The lender has added a note saying he sent an email and tried to call me, which is obviously not true. The call centre contacted him and he promised to call right after that, but as usual, no call.

All in all, this wasted hours of my time filling out their applications, and two months in waiting. I have now refinanced elsewhere, but during this two-month wait, CoreLogic valuation went down by $40k, costing me $32k at 80% LVR.

Relocation Loan – I am retired, having worked for myself for 30 years, have used the same finance broker throughout my working life and l must strongly disagree with St George, being good with relocation loans, we have well and truly more than enough equity to cover a relocation loan/bridging finance, way better than the 80% required, using our current home alone.… Read more

Consider the new block of land and a 50% share in a second property, not to mention Super equity, and they have knock back the loan. We have been a long-time customer, going back to when they were a Building Society, and have paid off loans with St George having never defaulted on any payments or loans, and they have just stuffed us around for the last 5 to 6 weeks, to the extent that we look like losing, One, the block of land and Two, the Home package we have signed a Tender to build, and engaged solicitor's to ensure a smooth transition. If we can find a new block the right size and at the price we had agreed to pay, in the area we are retiring in, and to suit the home we wish to build, the home alone has increased by 100K as the package we signed for is no longer available. To concluded, I cannot use the language on this page to express how, my wife and I are feeling about St George right now!

no cash back after refinancing – i have refinanced with st.george to recieve $4000 cashback as part of their offer. nominated days after settlement , still waiting .. contacted them to get an answer , but no reply. Feel like cheated Show details

Poor refinance process – Applied refinance back in February 2022 and after 3/4 weeks full loan approved but no progress since then. No ETA and untrustworthy words from banking representative. Date given keeps changing and never keep their words. I don’t understand how this company can still operate when they are unable to provide good services. Very disappointed and… Read more

dissatisfied with refinance process. Nobody can provide assurance from their end. No wonder they keep offering promotions to attract new customers otherwise nobody will go and use st.george banking system.

Up till now still ongoing and not sure when this going to complete….. if i know this from beginning i would not even try to approach or refinance with them. They have fast refi system and totally useless. Can’t see the benefits at all. Slower than normal settlement process.

Have lodged a complaint and see how they handle and resolve this issue…

Terrible Service Don’t waste your time – Applied for refinance. Lending manager called twice but did not proceed. Emailed and called back no answer. Compete waste of time. Also went to open account. It’s five minutes work Show details

Why is this bank offering home loans???? Potential customers beware! – We have been waiting for weeks and weeks for a re-finance that was pre-approved by St George. All the paper work has been done but no Settlement yet day after day we wait and now we may lose a house we have under offer because the cannot seem to get it together. WHY WHY would a bank off a service they can clearly not deliver on? We are absolutely horrified that this kind of business can be conducted by anyone especially a bank. Show details

Left me in a precarious position! – Completely failed me. Would be here with a house contract and law suit had I not had a second approval with another lender. Facts: Had a loan for over 10 years with St George. Sold my unit. Wanted to purchase another. Got preapproval with another bank. Tried to get confirmation of borrow power and preaproval with St George for well over 3 months.… Read more

Was told I could borrow more than other lender so thought to stick with St George. I wanted a preapproval like other lender had given ( as someone's word is meaningless) and was given the run around constantly. (Do not ask how many times I called, followed up and got absolutely no certain answer or response most of the time - they had all my docs btw) .

When push came to shove I told the lender I am purchasing a property with no cooling off and I needed 100% certainty. Then all of a sudden there was a problem with the borrowing capacity! I ran around to sort things out and get the contract signed by COB that day. Got the preapproval by St George (I'll be here for weeks if I describe the pain and time frame of the whole process). I sent them signed home contract and was told remaining paper work for full loan approval would come the following week. Given the sheer complacency, lack of followup, lack of certainty, tardiness...I got my other lender's approval reinstated " just in case".

My other lender came through within a few days. Still nothing from St George. Called no reply. Asked my conveyancer to followup - who was told they'd be contacted the following day. Crickets. I proceeded with my other lender.

Other Lender approved final loan. I decided to log on to St George and submit a request to make a formal complaint about my homeloan process. Got not response to my request BUT did receive a call by my lender the following day. The response... " Sorry I thought I sent you a text , we need more information"... WTH 2 weeks after signing a contract, no email, no followup, no response to my conveyancer as promised, no request for anything further but get contacted after i try file a complain? I would have been left with a huge legal commitment and NO loan had I waited. It's beyond a joke and that "sorry" with no followup from the bank , any superior, etc is the lamest and most useless of responses ever given the circumstance. I want to eventually move all my bank accounts from st george.

Stay away if you can. Other lenders are far more communicative, prompt and reliable.

Avoid Avoid Avoid – In the process of refinancing to st george. 7 weeks since application and counting and still do not have correct loan documents to sign. No ETA either. Who knows how long the actual settlement will take after signing the documents. The 26 years left on my Loan might be paid off before the refinance actually goes through. I am starting to see why… Read more

they offer competitive rates and cash bonuses to get customers. They have nothing else going for them to make a customer want to do business with them. The refinance is very vanilla with strong LVR, strong serviceability, yet these clowns cannot seem to get the documents correct. 2 sets of incorrect documents have already been supplied and now waiting for the 3rd try... Lets see if its 3rd time lucky. I would hate to see them attempt a complex loan if they cant even get a basic one correct. If this loan was for the purchase of a property with a 6 week settlement date we would be facing a disaster. If you are considering st george for a new purchase - dont do it. Select a lender that is competent to prepare documents correctly and turn them around in a timely manner. Even if the rates are a bit higher, it would be well worth it, as at least you can settle. I was hoping to see a company representative on this website responding to customer feedback, however the fact there is nothing of the sort speaks volumes of their customer service levels.

St George...id call it St Joke – Over a three months have past since we applied for a bridging construction loan with St George and we are now at our third finance extension deadline and St George have decided to defer the approval once again.... St Joke will have cost us over $100,000 loss in equity and $10,000 out of pocket. But still just another customer to them that comes after lunch breaks and Friday night drinks. Show details

Stay away from the jokers, you lose time and money waiting till eternity – I am in an unfortunate situation of St George being my lender (after a very painful pre-approval and set up process). Now it's time for the knockdown rebuild, and despite well within reasonable funding requirements, the ask for a "pre-approval" letter has taken a month with no approval in sight. My mortgage broker has been continuously chasing,… Read more

pleading the bank's assessors and higher ups (all the way to regional heads) and it seems to make no difference. The only conclusion I can make is St George has an uncaring attitude and will make you wait for eternity to complete their due diligence. We have been promptly submitting any documents required, but made to wait several days (at times up to 10 days) before being asked for more documents! In the meanwhile my builder is facing increasing costs due to inflationary pressures and we are losing potential rent (as the property to be knocked down is unoccupied). STG is dinosaur and it's time to go extinct.

terrible service from St george – st george are the worst I have dealt with. never again. refinance from another bank and buying a 2nd investment property and we both earn bloody good money. they farcked up our income, told us our credit cards wouldnt service, and this was after 6 weeks of arguing. I thought ME was bad, they are angels compared with these morons

Terrible experience – We have applied for refinancing with St George 4.5 months ago ,still it is processing. Keep asking the same documents several time.Terrible experiencewe don't recommend St George for anyone. We are facing lot of stress. Show details

Delay After Delay. Worst Banking Experience Ever! – We have a home loan with St George and decided to refinance to get money for Renovations and from the date I emailed all the paperwork to approval was 13 weeks! Terrible communication, delay after delay. Admittedly we had to submit more paperwork along the way but on the day they requested it we had it to them by end of that very same day. After… Read more

getting all the application paperwork to them I didn’t hear anything, so after 3 weeks of no word I went into branch, they contacted the lender overseeing our loan and she hadn’t even looked at it yet! Nice girl but St George’s lending and communication processes are atrocious. I had to contact the Loan lender overseeing our application nearly every week to find out what was going on. I even went into the branch a couple of times. Then over 3weeks ago get approval and still don’t have the funds in our account. They have so many excuses from people being sick, in leave, COVID, more paperwork required etc… Now I’m told their new system has 700 errors they are trying to fix behind the scene and it’s out of their hands and nobody can fix our issue. At what stage are they responsible or accountable for the extreme delays. People should be compensated. The worst banking experience I’ve ever been through in my life, don’t go through them. We’ll be changing lenders as soon as we can. Believe me it’s not worth the stress. It’s nearly 4months since started the process….We still don’t have the money as I’m typing this review.

Delay upon delay – My broker suggested St George and said it would only take 2 weeks to get finance approved on my income and savings. I’m still waiting a month later and about to lose the house I put a contract on. My rental ends in a few weeks and we could be homeless. Terrible customer service with no explanation for delays. Please don’t apply with St George even if you have to pay higher interest rate with another lender. Show details

Mortgage Broker: Unprofessional, uncommunicative and spiteful – Spent 6 weeks putting together my mortgage application, would go missing for weeks on end and then resurface with no explanation. When respectfully asked to be communicated to if any further delays [Name Removed] cancelled my application within 24 hours. Appalling!

Unreliable and Untrustworthy Home Loan Provider – Do you value even a standard level of customer service, transparency with how your money is handled and not be fed lies about when you can receive your money? Then you would do best to research other banking providers, before trusting St George with your money. Our awful experience started with St George when we refinanced our home loan with… Read more

them. We were attracted to their cash offer ($2000) and lower rate , but found both benefits dissolved when it took 4 weeks, after being approved, to have the loan actioned. While waiting, we paid the higher interest rate with our original lender, which ate into the cash bonus we would receive...6 weeks later.

However, we were in for further pain when it came to sell our home and settle the funds. Everything went really well, right through to settlement, and the outsourced settlement clearing body used by St George, had transferred the entire settled value to the St George Home Loan team for allocation.

Settlement was on a Monday, so we rang St George on Tuesday afternoon, and after being put through a gauntlet of incorrect people, we finally reached the correct area, to be told that it would be 24-48 hours before our funds were available. We rang every day and were told on Thursday, that our money would be in our account that afternoon. It was not. By this stage, we were very frustrated, and felt as though we were being lied to. After another phone call on Friday, we were told the money would be available by 10m that day. It was not.

The last resort was to physically visit a branch to demand answers as well as a resolution. This led to further phone calls, where St George Banks' own customer service staff was put through the same phone shenanigans that we experienced. Still no resolution in fact we were informed by the St George Home Loan area that it would be another business day before our funds were available.

We decided to call our lawyers. In the end, it was our lawyers, who after 45 minutes of waiting on the phone, were able to ask St George how they can justify, after clearing the mortgage, to hold onto funds that DID NOT belong to them for 4 days. Due to the call from our lawyers the money was transferred almost immediately into our account.

We will never use ST George for any banking service again and recommend others don't use them. Their actions reveal a total disregard for customer service, and call into question their moral standards when dealing with other people's money.