In an age where digital banking is fast becoming the norm, the reliability of banking apps is more crucial than ever.

However, the recent crash of the Commonwealth Bank (CommBank) app, known as NetBank, has left millions of Australians unable to access their money and carry out essential transactions.

The issue began to surface on social media as customers expressed their frustration and concern.

With the app down since approximately 8 pm on Tuesday, 12 March, users were greeted with a message informing them that the bank was aware of the problem and was working urgently to resolve it.

Customers were affected by the CommBank outage on 12 March. Credit: Shutterstock

The message read: 'We're aware some customers may be encountering difficulties with some of our services right now. We are urgently investigating this, and we're sorry for any inconvenience caused.'

The outage didn't just affect the mobile app; website services were also impacted, leaving customers with limited options for checking account balances, paying bills, or transferring funds.

The bank was flooded with customer complaints on social media.

‘I just see my balance from 8:38 pm but can't pay anything, and the page doesn't even let me log in. Please [sic] fix asap as I need to pay bills,’ one said.

‘Everything is down, can’t access my money, check balance or pay for groceries, and your call centres are [sic] closed. Seriously, come on,’ another complained.

Other customers said they hadn’t heard from CommBank until an hour into the outage when the bank started to reply to complaints around 10 pm on 12 March.

Credit: @CommBank / X (formerly known as Twitter) ​

At 12:30 am on Wednesday, 13 March, the situation had been resolved.

‘Services are being restored,’ CommBank said on its website.

‘We apologise to customers who encountered difficulties accessing some of our services this evening. The CommBank app and NetBank are now available. Customers may still experience some delays to payments.’

At 7 am the same day, CommBank announced all services, including the CommBank App, NetBank, CommBiz, and CommSec, were available.

Several banks also experienced outages, which intensified arguments about the dangers of Australians becoming too reliant on cashless or digital payments in the face of becoming a ‘cashless society’.

In January, ME Bank experienced a 24-hour outage, which customers found ‘unacceptable’ and ‘ridiculous’.

In another story, at least six financial institutions were also affected by an outage in February. Disgruntled customers reported the outage affected their payments, transfers, and access to their accounts.

Key Takeaways

• Commonwealth Bank customers experienced difficulties using the NetBank app, which has crashed.
• The outage also affected the bank's website services, causing widespread inconvenience to customers.
• The bank acknowledged the issue with a message confirming they are investigating and working on a fix.
• At 7 am on Wednesday, 13 March, CommBank announced that all services were available.

Were you affected by the CommBank outage? Let us know in the comments below.

 

[Dennis]

It pay to have two credit cards in case one does not work when shopping and also some cash in the bag.

I have been in Queues where I have seen women with 4 cards not Knowing which one to use

 

[JimmyFlatrock]

There is no doubt the everyday convenience of digital banking far outweighs the niggling inconvenience of fairly rare outages. To reduce the angst involved when trying to pay bills that are due that outage day, we can try hard to get into the habit of paying bills a week before the due date. Another benefit of doing this, for those that have copped it, is zero late payment fees.

I use both digital and cash for transactional business and I believe it important to use all of our collective political influencing power to stop politicians from attempting to introduce a cashless society.

If ever a cashless system was introduced, then that is a genuine loss of control being handed over to a Government that wishes to dominate it's people.

Digital outages are not a loss of control or a shocking thing, but merely a slight annoyance for those who have prepared for the rare events.

 

[Robbo3006]

There is no doubt the everyday convenience of digital banking far outweighs the niggling inconvenience of fairly rare outages. To reduce the angst involved when trying to pay bills that are due that outage day, we can try hard to get into the habit of paying bills a week before the due date. Another benefit of doing this, for those that have copped it, is zero late payment fees.

I use both digital and cash for transactional business and I believe it important to use all of our collective political influencing power to stop politicians from attempting to introduce a cashless society.

If ever a cashless system was introduced, then that is a genuine loss of control being handed over to a Government that wishes to dominate it's people.

Digital outages are not a loss of control or a shocking thing, but merely a slight annoyance for those who have prepared for the rare events.

So you.pay early and they make even more money off our money, bet ur a banker, or bonkers.

 

[Aussie100]

I never got a message.. just a text saying my payment hadn't gone through And they want us to go cashless?? NOT ON YOUR LIFE This must prove that cashless is WRONG

 

[one2one]

It’s a joke …. And they want us to go cashless …. ,

 

[SilJac]

Hopefully alL these outages with banks, eftpos facilities and yesterday McDonald’s worldwide went down , will show people that full digital is not the way to go.. we need to use cash more and more to stop this digital everything coming in..

 

[Aussiecris]

How intolerant have we got. Years ago if the power went out, which use to happen alot more frequently back in the day, we would light a candle and deal with it. I remember the bank would close its doors and you were not able to get cash or do your banking until the power came back on. Are these outages any different, a few hours inconvenience. Why have we become a 'must have it all working all the time or the world is coming to an end' society

 

[JimmyFlatrock]

So you.pay early and they make even more money off our money, bet ur a banker, or bonkers.

You just lost at least half your bet. The bonkers bit I'll leave to the judgement of others. I will say I have never paid one zac of interest on any credit card I have ever had since the inception of credit cards due to my discipline and a desire to avoid having banks make any more money off me that I can help.

So if, as you have indicated, the banks are making easy money off you, perhaps you need to re-think who the bonkers one is.

 

[Robbo3006]

You just lost at least half your bet. The bonkers bit I'll leave to the judgement of others. I will say I have never paid one zac of interest on any credit card I have ever had since the inception of credit cards due to my discipline and a desire to avoid having banks make any more money off me that I can help.

So if, as you have indicated, the banks are making easy money off you, perhaps you need to re-think who the bonkers one is.

So every time you tap and go you never pay any service charge, bullshit. I don't have a credit card at all, I use a savings card and still pay fees, you're a liar, disciplined My ass.

 

[JimmyFlatrock]

Ok, Robbo3006, I'll keep my response civil and also offer up some additional information.

There is a difference between interest charged and fees. What I said was, I have never paid any interest. It is a fairly well known fact that if you clear the amount in full each month there is no interest payable on a credit card account with the bank I go through. In fact, if you clear the amount within 55 days of the purchase then no interest is payable. So it's not even the balance you have to clear, just all those items in the last so many days. The bank very helpfully tells me the amount to pay to avoid interest being charged. All done online of course.

In addition, but totally separate from interest, the only fees I have ever paid on the credit card is a nominal service fee on the few international transactions I make.

Just checked my credit card statement and no sign of any tap and go fees. Having said that, I only ever use tap and go at Bunnings usually and the amounts that go through to my statement tally up with the amount of the purchase item only.

I don't actually use the debit card provided on my savings account, so I am unable to comment on the fees you are paying. It may well be prudent for you to check out the fee situation at other financial organisations.

As for a liar, well, what would be the point!

For me a credit card is simply a bloody handy convenience tool and the way I use it, it's virtually at no cost. Think of it this way, I get to use the banks money for 55 days, at no cost to me. Here is some information I've copy/pasted directly off the banks website.

Key features​

• Monthly fee: $3#. $0 monthly fee when you spend $300 per month
• 20.99% p.a. purchase interest rate
• Up to 55 days interest free on purchases
• Minimum credit limit of $500
• Cashback benefits for eligible cardholders through Offers* in the CommBank
• Complimentary Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Insurance provided by Cover-More~

I always purchase way more than $300 per month = no fee.

In addition, there is the awards scheme and a big reason why I use the thing called a credit card, even if I don't use it the way a lot people do to mount up huge debts.
Currently my awards stand at $725 for converting to a, for example, Coles gift voucher. If I wanted the amount credited to my credit card account, the amount at the moment is $539. Bear in mind it's been a long time since I cashed in the awards points.

I have no doubts in my mind you will remain disbelieving of me without checking to establish the facts as I have laid out. Doesn't concern me in the slightest.

As for being disciplined, it may well have been that at the start all those decades ago, but now it's just a good beneficial habit I've gotten into.

 

[Robbo3006]

Ok, Robbo3006, I'll keep my response civil and also offer up some additional information.

There is a difference between interest charged and fees. What I said was, I have never paid any interest. It is a fairly well known fact that if you clear the amount in full each month there is no interest payable on a credit card account with the bank I go through. In fact, if you clear the amount within 55 days of the purchase then no interest is payable. So it's not even the balance you have to clear, just all those items in the last so many days. The bank very helpfully tells me the amount to pay to avoid interest being charged. All done online of course.

In addition, but totally separate from interest, the only fees I have ever paid on the credit card is a nominal service fee on the few international transactions I make.

Just checked my credit card statement and no sign of any tap and go fees. Having said that, I only ever use tap and go at Bunnings usually and the amounts that go through to my statement tally up with the amount of the purchase item only.

I don't actually use the debit card provided on my savings account, so I am unable to comment on the fees you are paying. It may well be prudent for you to check out the fee situation at other financial organisations.

As for a liar, well, what would be the point!

For me a credit card is simply a bloody handy convenience tool and the way I use it, it's virtually at no cost. Think of it this way, I get to use the banks money for 55 days, at no cost to me. Here is some information I've copy/pasted directly off the banks website.

Key features​

• Monthly fee: $3#. $0 monthly fee when you spend $300 per month
• 20.99% p.a. purchase interest rate
• Up to 55 days interest free on purchases
• Minimum credit limit of $500
• Cashback benefits for eligible cardholders through Offers* in the CommBank
• Complimentary Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Insurance provided by Cover-More~

I always purchase way more than $300 per month = no fee.

In addition, there is the awards scheme and a big reason why I use the thing called a credit card, even if I don't use it the way a lot people do to mount up huge debts.
Currently my awards stand at $725 for converting to a, for example, Coles gift voucher. If I wanted the amount credited to my credit card account, the amount at the moment is $539. Bear in mind it's been a long time since I cashed in the awards points.

I have no doubts in my mind you will remain disbelieving of me without checking to establish the facts as I have laid out. Doesn't concern me in the slightest.

As for being disciplined, it may well have been that at the start all those decades ago, but now it's just a good beneficial habit I've gotten into.

I didn't even read it, wasted your time with all that drivel. Blocked.

 

[JimmyFlatrock]

That's ok. I was happy to take 15 minutes out of my life. The purpose of writing it was mainly for the benefit of others, but also for your benefit if you chose to check out the truth of what I was saying. To show you there is a way to save money and indeed to make money, to use the banking system for your benefit instead of just accepting fees because that's the way you think it works.

In the past, for a small amount of time, I would have lived by the 'put your head in the sand' adage, but it never turns out well. Old saying goes, don't get mad, get even. That's what I did with the Banking system. Plus I found writing it gave me a sense of satisfaction and well being. Reading your response gives me certainty you indeed read it.

My assumption on joining this forum was that it may be a good place to pick up some valuable tips and learn from the experience of others. Didn't have an expectation of coming across someone so full of the angry's. But that's ok, each to their own.

Not sure what it means for me to be 'blocked' by somebody. If it means not having to read disparaging things said about one by someone who doesn't know you, then I guess it can't be all bad.