Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) Assisting Small Businesses
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) was established in November 2018 and replaces the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.
The AFCA provides FREE, fair, independent and effective external dispute resolution for small businesses and consumers.
They are a one-stop-shop for consumers and small businesses with complaints about financial firms, including banks, credit providers, insurance companies, financial and investment advisers and superannuation funds. The financial firm has to be a member of AFCA for us to deal with the complaint.
AFCA’s capacity to deal with small business complaints is significantly greater than predecessor schemes.
They define a small business as having fewer than 100 employees (an increase from 20 employees), and can consider complaints about small business credit facilities up to $5 million (previously $2 million).
Importantly, the amount of compensation they can award per claim for such complaints has more than tripled, to $1 million ($2 million for primary producers). Different thresholds apply for other financial products and services.
For most matters, a complaint must be lodged with AFCA within six years of the complainant first becoming aware of the problem, or within two years of a response from the financial firm.
However, the Federal Government has recently announced that for a period of 12 months commencing 1 July 2019, AFCA can consider complaints back to 1 January 2008, based on their current scope and thresholds rather than those applying at the time.
AFCA will be issuing guidance prior to 1 July 2019 to explain how small businesses can raise these matters with them.
Contact AFCA on 1800 931 678 or visit afca.org.au if you have a financial complaint or wish to know more about them and their processes.
Download the fact sheet on How to Resolve A Small Business Complaint
10 May 2019
