Thousands suffer network outage at Westpac days before Christmas

Thousands of Westpac customers across most States have reported being affected by a network outage only days before the Christmas holidays.

At least 2700 people have reported their Westpac online banking services are not working as of 8.30am on Tuesday, according to Down Detector.

In a statement to Facebook, Westpac said it was “aware that customers are experiencing intermittent issues accessing online, mobile and telephone banking”.

“Our teams are working to fix the issue,” the statement to Facebook said. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and will continue to share updates here.”

Users on X, formerly known as Twitter, first reported experiencing issues, including with online banking services, shortly after 8am on Tuesday.

“Hey Westpac … will EFTPOS still work? This is the stuff you need to tell your customers within minutes of your online banking not responding,” one user said.

“Are we going to be left again with trolleys full of groceries we can’t pay for at the checkout,” another user added: “Why is Westpac down again. Second time this month.”

Many other customers were quick to point out the issues could throw into chaos last-minute Christmas shopping, including groceries for the holiday weekend.

“Frustrating! Especially when trying to do final pays for people before Christmas, pay invoices and pay myself,” Cola Maurirere wrote on Facebook.

Another customer on Twitter added: “So Westpac online banking is borked again? Good luck with you Christmas shopping today.”

The reported outage comes less than a month after more than 10,000 customers reported being unable to access their online accounts, including via the website.

At the time, users reported seeing their accounts “suddenly disappear”, while other bank accounts that should have been holding money had a $0 balance.