AFCA inundated with complaints

6 December 2018
| By Anastasia Santoreneos |
image
image
expand image

Since it opened its doors on 1 November, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) reported it received over 13,000 phone enquiries, and 6,522 complaints from consumers and small businesses about financial products or services.

The regulatory body said it averaged 310 complaints per business day, and experienced an increase of more than 47 per cent in complaints received compared to its predecessors.

CEO and chief ombudsman, David Locke, said the number of calls and complaints was on par with what AFCA was expecting, and around 15 per cent of the complaints received in the month had been finalised already.

AFCA said the majority of complaints (45 per cent) were about credit, with general insurance causing some distress (21 per cent), followed by deposit taking (10 per cent) and superannuation (eight per cent).

Consumers showed their angst with the banks, with 2,367 complaints aimed at banks, 1,159 complaints aimed at general insurers and 1,040 complaints aimed at credit providers.

Locke said AFCA was currently investigating 84 definite systemic issues and four potential serious contraventions and other breaches.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

1 year ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

1 year ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

1 year ago

Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data....

3 days 19 hours ago

Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion....

4 days ago

It seems the government is still determined to push through its controversial super tax legislation, according to its Tax Expenditures and Insights Statement released tod...

4 days 15 hours ago