Noel Whittaker's latest column is a cautionary tale about paperwork, patience, and keeping proof of everything you send your bank.
Noel Whittaker and his wife had banked with the same institution for more than 40 years when an identity-verification letter arrived. They filled in the forms and sent them back. Four weeks later the same letter arrived again. A fortnight after that, a third. When he complained, the bank froze both accounts, and getting access restored took around two hours on a call-centre line.
The column sets that story inside a bigger argument about red tape and productivity. Australia sits 16th among OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries for labour productivity, and output went backwards in the latest year. Commonwealth gross debt is close to $1 trillion. Even comprehensive financial advice now starts at about $5,000. He accepts that banks have to catch criminals. His question is whether putting honest customers through the same wringer actually does it.
If you are somewhere between 40 and 60, this is less about politics and more about plumbing. By now your money probably moves on autopilot: the mortgage or rent by direct debit, salary in, insurance premiums out, maybe a share purchase or an extra super contribution once a year. One frozen account can stop all of it at once, and the person who answers the phone cannot always fix it quickly.
Which makes three quiet habits worth having. Keep a dated copy of anything you post or upload to a bank, and ask them to confirm in writing that it arrived. Keep a second account at a different institution with enough in it to cover a month of essentials. And if a request turns up out of the blue, ring the bank on a number you look up yourself rather than one printed in the letter.
"The bank's response was extraordinary: they froze our bank accounts."
Read the full article: Noel Whittaker: Why St. George Bank froze our accounts — Noel Whittaker, The Canberra Times, 10 October 2026.
Getting the everyday machinery of your money in order — accounts, debt, saving, and a buffer that works when something goes wrong — is what Making Money Made Simple (26th Edition) is for. Updated for the current financial year, you can buy direct from the author for $16.99, and you get both PDF and EPUB formats to read on any device.