I was passing through Hughenden on a Saturday afternoon, needed some cash. Put my Commonwealth Bank mastercard into its ATM. It whirred and whirred for about 60 seconds, then it swallowed my card!

There was no message about an incorrect PIN or anything else, it just swallowed the card I have been using for years! I was totally gutted.

I later checked with the Commonwealth , who advised there was no problem either with the account or the card.

Whatever you do, avoid this bank!! Losing an account-linked card is a potential disaster for any traveler. A Kafkaesque aspect of card-swallowing ATMs is the fact that no one will ever give you an explanation of why it happened.

To add insult to injury, I am an NAB shareholder.