• expired

Bonus $40 with Complete Freedom Account (Deposit $500 in 30 Days & Make 5 Debit Card Trans) @ St. George, Bank of Melb, Bank SA

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This offer has been renewed, so reposting this as the previous post has been marked expired. Especially useful for those opening a transaction account to avoid the fee on BankSA's Amplify Rewards credit card deals (couldn't see St.George / Bank of Melbourne have these offers anymore).

Get $40 with a new Complete Freedom everyday bank account when you apply online by 29th March 2023 and within 30 days of account opening deposit $500 and make 5 eligible debit card purchases. New transaction account customers only.

Participating Banks:
St. George: https://www.stgeorge.com.au/personal/bank-accounts/transacti…
Bank of Melbourne: https://www.bankofmelbourne.com.au/personal/bank-accounts/tr…
Bank SA: https://www.banksa.com.au/personal/bank-accounts/transaction…

Important Information:

$40 Offer: Fees and charges apply. Read the terms and conditions available at bankofmelbourne.com.au before making a decision and consider whether the product is right for you. To be eligible for the $40 offer you must: open a new Complete Freedom account online between 29/09/2022 and 29/03/2023, and within 30 days of account opening deposit $500 and make 5 eligible debit card purchases. Eligible card purchases are purchases made using your Bank of Melbourne Bank debit card linked to your Complete Freedom account and have these settled (not pending). The following transactions are ineligible: ATM transactions, BPAY, EFTPOS cash out only transactions, gambling transactions and purchases settled to a credit card account. If eligible you will receive $40 into your Complete Freedom account within approximately 50 days of opening. The account must remain open during this period in order to be eligible for the offer. New Complete Freedom account customers only. All account holders on the new Complete Freedom account must not currently hold or have previously held a Bank of Melbourne, St.George or BankSA transaction account, or received this cashback offer at any time to be eligible. Where a joint account is opened, if one of the joint account holders has already received their cashback in respect of another account, then none of the remaining joint account holders will be eligible for the offer in respect of the joint account. Offer is limited to one eligible account and is not available in conjunction with any other offer.

Related Stores

BankSA (Bank of South Australia)
BankSA (Bank of South Australia)
Bank of Melbourne
Bank of Melbourne
St.George Bank
St.George Bank

closed Comments

  • So i can open account in each one of them and get $120?

    • +1

      T&C's say that won't work.

    • +1

      You can't, all 3 banks use the same data. You can use your login to login to any othe these 3 banks website doesn't matter which bank you opened your account at.

  • Nothing personal but im wary about giving more of my personal details out now after optus

    • might as well until the (VIC) license renews

      • From Qld and already have a new licence number :)

        • @Rain Cloud How did you know you were one of the people affected. Were people with data leaked contacted specifically?

          • +1

            @Devil: I got an email as a former customer that said this:

            Importantly, no financial information or passwords have been accessed. The information which has been exposed is your name, date of birth, email associated with your former account, and the number of the ID document you provided such as drivers licence or passport number. No copies of photo IDs have been affected.

            So i went and got my licence and medicare numbers changed

            • @Rain Cloud: @Rain Cloud Thanks for letting me know! Wasn't sure how people were finding out.

              Haven't been contacted so hoping all is well.

              • @Devil: Well, FMD!
                Just checked Optusnet Webmail stating a victim and DL was exposed (not photo) from a month ago.

            • @Rain Cloud: Can we sign up with old license first, then get replacements?

  • +1

    I'm not sure $40 is worth the effort… but I will consider it. Last time I tried to do one of these it wouldn't accept my licence as part of the KYC process and I gave up in frustration.

  • +1

    Sorry, we seem to be experiencing problems
    Please try later again

    anyone else getting that?

    • Yep, with St George.

    • Yes, they're a right pain in the arse. All their phone support employees are idiots and can offer no reason or excuse why they're so incompetent either. I put in all four ID documents: driver's licence, medicare, passport and birth certificate and the instant response was "we can't identify you, go to one of our branches". I'm in a state that has no St George branches. When I put that to the CSR on the phone, his response was I can close the account for you.

  • -1

    Would you still be eligible to get CB if you held one of the bank accounts earlier, but you were too lazzy to make effort to get the CB last time ? such that you never actually got the cashback but did hold one of the mentioned bank accounts in past ?

  • Any fees for banksa accounts?

  • It took me a heap of effort to open this a little while back. In fact, my worst opening an account experience out of a decent number of banks. This was my issue, but I’m sure others will have a better experience, so I am just sharing. It was all down to verification of ID; just before floptus as well, so not related. I had to take my ID into a branch and have it verified as my opening of this account hit on an online verification issue (which I’ve never had before). By the time it was organised (four separate calls to their support centre, and retelling my story, who would then forward me to another department and a promise to call back …. which would never come). Anyway, I got a text on a Thursday saying something along the lines of "don't forget to order your card and make 5 transactions to get the $40 by Tuesday the 1st [it may have been $20 when I applied]; however, despite my account being open, you need to order the card! I can't recall ever opening a savings or transaction account whereby the card is not automatically given and sent. There wasn't even a digital one to add to my iPhone wallet (as Ubank, ANZ+ and virgin do automatically). This meant I had no way to get the card delivered and make the transactions within a month. So, if you open this account, order the card as well so you can get the transactions done.

    Anyway, my sole purpose for opening it was to enable the 'first-year free' promo of the St George Amplify Credit Card that is on the banking app, saving $29 or $49, whichever, I forget. I do love the Credit Card though, as it comes with Kayo Cashback each month, as well as the Amplify points and insurances (international travel, overseas transit accident, interstate flight inconvenience, rental Vehicle Excess in Australia cover, purchase protection for up to 4 months and extended warranty). A painful experience, but the credit card made it worth it.

    • I don't believe this is the case anymore with having to manually order the debit card. I've just completed account openings with both St.George and Bank of Melbourne and both say this in the welcome e-mail:
      "Your new card will arrive in 3 – 5 business days and you can easily activate it through Internet or Mobile Banking. "

  • +2

    It's a sad day when even ozbargainers couldn't be bothered to get the free money.

    • Papa Westpac still haven't paid me $50 since last yrr

  • I went to open an account because there was a free card for BankSA customer with 60k QFF…when I went through discovered there were also an offer for $40 ! happy day.
    Though now they want me to verify my ID but I can't do it online, they didn't send me a thing to do it online, and I am not in SA so can't go to a branch…does anyone know what to do ?

  • Has anybody gotten their $40?

    • Received 12 days after last transaction.

      • Real purchases or BEEM-it or split payment?

        • +1

          Wasn't sure Beem was gonna work because it was classified as Eftpos Debit (Withdrawals & Transfers - Funds transfer). Did 5x $0.01 Bundll payments in addition, which came up as Visa Purchase (Bills & Payments - Expenses & Payments).

  • Will payments using the card to a utility provider like electricity, gas, water etc. qualify as the required payments to get the 5? If so, then I'll just put a utility account into credit by $5 to get across the line

    • The following transactions are ineligible: ATM transactions, BPAY, EFTPOS cash out only transactions, gambling transactions and purchases settled to a credit card account.

      • +1

        Yeah it won't be BPay. I will process the payment via card number/expiry/CVC

  • Here's a fun game Westpac like to play with new account applicants. When you apply for your Freedom account and by some miracle actually manage to get through their impossibly unreliable and decrepit ID verification system via Equifax that almost never works… they present you with a freshly minted 10-digit account number beginning with zero THAT DOESN'T WORK! Use this number to send funds into your new account like say the verification 1c deposit UBank bizarrely still uses to establish a linked account, and you'll be sorely disappointed when it never arrives. That's right, the account number they give you for your brand new account is wrong. You have to delete the leading zero off if you actually ever want any funds to arrive. Westpac obviously don't acknowledge their own incompetence and ignore leading zeros, preferring instead to just truncate the trailing end number instead when processing deposits which of course results in a non-existent account number. Not impressed at all with Westpac so far.

  • Cards received. Transferred $500 over to Freedom. Made 5 x 1c deposits to Synergy account with 0.36% surcharge fee = 0.00. Now waiting for my free $40.

    • Did you end up receiving your $40? Am still waiting on mine from a few weeks ago…

      • +1

        Still waiting. They have according to the T&C's 50 days
        "you will receive $40 into your Complete Freedom account within approximately 50 days of opening."
        I opened my account on 4 Nov, so they are still well within their 50 days. I'm not going to question anything until they are in clear breach of their T&C's because until then you haven't got a leg to stand on and it's a gift, so you have no leverage either.
        Right now there is a higher priority of opening a Maxi-Saver account tomorrow and transferring all the Incentive money there instead for the extra 10bp interest and to workaround/bypass the annoying grow the account balance according to very weird and incomprehensible definitions of what a month is according to Westpac clearly designed to trip up depositors so they don't have to pay any interest at all.

  • +1

    My $40 still hasn’t come

    • When did you make all the transactions?

      • Last transaction was 18 Oct

        • If eligible you will receive $40 into your Complete Freedom account within approximately 50 days of opening.

          Has it been 50 days?

          • @Iluvfreebies: 50 days today and did not arrive oh well

            • @gungirlyuna: Well then contact them. I have also not received it but it only been 3 weeks.

              • @Iluvfreebies: Have contacted but it’s on a - we will respond to you later. Not good service

            • @gungirlyuna: They have APPROXIMATELY 50 days to pay. Their T&C's state so in italics, meaning it's a bit of a rubbery 50 days.

  • +2

    Deposited $500 1st Nov, did about 9 transactions between 1st and 20th.

    Received $40 on 6th Dec.

    • How long was that from account opening? The account opening day is the critical date. They have ~approximately 50 days from account opening to pay the $40. It has nothing to do with when the transactions or $500 deposit was made, only from the account opening date.

      • Went back through my emails, looks like opened around 27th Oct.

        • 47 days then. Sounds like Westpac will be running this one out to the word of their T&C's as they are entitled to do.

    • Did you leave the $500 in the account?

      • Nope. I withdrew $400 on 18th Nov haha

        Left a bit in there just in case I needed to use the card.

      • Me neither. Put the $500 in there to count for the offer condition, paid 5 x 1c amounts to the water utiltiy and then took the $499.95 back out again to earn interest. If they wanna make stupid conditions like having to make transactions to qualify, then I'll abuse that and make it as annoying and disruptive as possible too. Like paying a speeding fine with a wheelbarrow full of 5c pieces

  • 3 lots of $40 credited this morning for accounts opened 4/5/6 Nov for ~40 days. Win.

    • 3 accounts? Making good use of leaked optus data

    • Wow how?

      • Let's just say that if you have impeccable ID information, are willing to hand it all over at once exceeding all minimum requirements, and you have a lot of luck in picking a day when Westpac's systems decide to work and you are quick enough, you can open brand new Freedom accounts within minutes of each other at all three mirror-banks thus avoiding the cross-checking between them when it comes time for the $40 incentive payout

        • So I was right in my first comment.
          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/12749212/redir

          • @Iluvfreebies: Only I suspect if you're very quick and make successful applications to all three at basically the same time. They do cross-check for previous payments of the bonus and that's written in the T&C's too. You need to be very lucky I would suggest. Just making three successful applications through Westpac's ridiculously onerous ID check system is a miracle in itself. I wouldn't for a moment suggest that everyone can do this, or even try.

  • Sounds like you were only entitled to one. They may ask you to pay back the other two, if you don't they can put a default on your credit record.

    • Yeah I don't see that happening, but as always YMMV

  • +1

    Got my $40 today after 40 days of opening the account.

    • Did you need to hold $500 in there for the whole duration? Or just transfer it in, purchase 5x, and transfer out?

      • +1

        No, I left it for a few day and then took it all out.

        • Do I just need to apply by 29/3/23 and after that have 30 days to meet spending criteria? Otherwise it would be hard to start with just 8 days left.

          • @1bargain: You will still have 30 days from account opening date. This is how all of these promo work.

          • @1bargain: Applying will be the hard part, unless you live close to a physical branch you can walk into. These Westpac banks are ridiculously difficult to pass ID checks with. In short, the idea that they accept online applications and ID checks is pure fantasy. The truth is, they don't. You always get told your ID check failed and you have to go into a branch, even though the very same ID used at any other bank checked through the very same Illion/Equifax/Experion ID checking system, works instantly. I suspect it's to discourage people who don't live in SA from opening BankSA accounts, non-residents of Vic from opening BoM accounts and non-NSW residents opening StG accounts. The online check is routinely rejected to force you to walk into a branch, which is hard to do if you're in another state. You can fight to get your local Westpac branch to act as an intermediary, but it will definitely be a fight as they won't normally cooperate with each other (even though they're all Westpac under the bonnet). Even if you can get a local Westpac to help out, it's all done very manually with posted paper letters and forms, nothing electronic about it, and that will almost certainly take longer than 8 days with our stellar Australia Post service.

            To illustrate just how obvious the Westpac ID check planned rejection is, I spoke to an employee of Westpac in my process who told me he got rejected for an account too when he had all the same four forms of ID that I had - drivers; medicare; passport; birth cert; but he was actual Westpac staff for more than 5 years with an employee number as well, and still got rejected and was told to attend a branch. The irony was, he was at work and already in a branch using his Westpac computer to do the application!

            • @Legoman: Thanks Legoman. Always love hearing your stories to gain understanding of different experiences. How on earth is it possible to make people jump through so many hoops, even for a staff member is beyond a joke. Why don’t they just say, only for account opening within the branch. Saves people from added work going online and then going to a branch just to open an account. Lots of effort for just $40.

              • @1bargain: Because if they actually told the truth that they don't accept online applications, then they would stick out like a very backwards and archaic sore thumb in the banking world and no-one would touch them with a barge pole. Everyone wants the Millennial market, but Millennials don't believe in cash or receipts or checking statements or desktop computers or printing anything on paper. That's all for their grandparents. Millennials wanna do everything on their phone in between TikTok videos for their budding 'influencer' career. A bank that advertises that they only accept account applications in person in a physical branch during banking office hours, would be as foreign a concept to a Millennial as using a phone to have an actual speaking conversation with someone real who wasn't a ChatGPT robot with a synthesised human voice.

  • It took 6 weeks for me to get a debit card, so I couldn’t make any purchases. I guess I don’t qualify.

    Another bank can send me a new card in Apple Pay to use immediately, so this is a pretty disappointing first impression.

    • Wow, that is ridiculous. Did you try reaching out to them? 6 weeks is not acceptable especially when you’re trying to follow their T&C for the bonus.

    • When you do get the card, you'll be even more impressed to see it has the traditional raised embossed numbers and all the details of the cardholder on the front too, old-skool style for those click-clack machines with the carbon paper inserts you last saw being used in the late 70's by your mum before you were born. That's how up to date Westpac are, so enjoy!

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