Westpac Outage Leaves Thousands Locked Out Before Services Return
So, earlier today, a major disruption hit Westpac customers across Australia, and it unfolded right in the middle of the afternoon rush. Around 12:30pm, thousands of people suddenly found themselves unable to access their bank accounts. It wasn’t just the mobile app going down—EFTPOS terminals, online banking through browsers, and even some ATM services were impacted. For many, it felt like everything just stopped at once.
By about 4:30pm, Westpac announced that services had been restored. A spokesperson confirmed that retail and mobile banking were back up and that EFTPOS payments were functioning again. Business clients were told that a few lingering issues might still be worked through, but overall, the worst of the outage had passed. An apology was offered, acknowledging just how disruptive the afternoon had been for so many customers.
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During the outage, Westpac also urged people to stay alert, warning that scammers often take advantage of moments like this by posing as bank staff and offering fake “assistance.” Customers were reminded to be cautious about unsolicited calls or messages.
Before everything was restored, the frustration had already spread quickly online. People using Westpac and its associated brands—St George, BankSA, and Bank of Melbourne—shared their experiences. One woman mentioned being stuck at a service station, unable to pay because the POS terminal wouldn’t process her card. She tried the app, then the browser, then attempted PayID, and even turned to an ATM as a last resort—none of it worked. Another customer said she was told at a branch to hurry and use the ATM “before it goes down,” which shows just how widespread and unpredictable the disruption felt in real time.
Many users opening their banking apps saw a simple but worrying message: “Mobile banking is currently unavailable.” And according to DownDetector, more than 1000 outage reports were logged at the peak, right around 1pm.
Even though Westpac also owns RAMS and BT, those services remained unaffected, which adds another layer of complexity to what caused today’s interruption—something the bank has not yet explained publicly.
In the end, the situation was resolved within a few hours, but for thousands of Australians trying to make payments, transfer money, or simply check their balance, it was a stressful and unexpected pause in the middle of the day.
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