The AFCA helped shoppers safe $304 million in damages and recoveries after resolving disputes with monetary firms final 12 months, however the company has known as the amount of functions they’re being inundated with as “unsustainable.”
Complaints about fraud virtually doubled between 2022 and 2023, which David Locke, the pattern’s chief ombudsman, stated was a “main concern” to the AFCA.
“We’re additionally seeing the impression of rising rates of interest and value of residing pressures, with complaints of economic difficulties additionally rising considerably,” Locke stated.
In 2023, the AFCA obtained 102,790 complaints from shoppers and small companies, a rise of 23 per cent on 2022.
AFCA recorded 8,987 fraud complaints, up 95 per cent from 4,611 in 2022.
The overall variety of complaints associated to monetary difficulties reached 5,396 complaints, a rise of 29 p.c from 2022.
Complaints about monetary merchandise, together with banking and monetary companies, insurance coverage, investments, recommendation and superannuation, have additionally risen.
Locke pointed the finger at banks and monetary firms for not doing extra to resolve buyer complaints, forcing individuals to escalate points to the AFCA.
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He stated banks might “do a greater job” of coping with complaints via their very own inside complaints processes, “so solely probably the most complicated circumstances make it to the AFCA – which is the function we’re speculated to play”.
“As a substitute, the amount of complaints reaching us places pointless strain on the exterior dispute decision system and inevitably causes additional delays for shoppers.”
Since its founding in 2018, AFCA has processed greater than 420,000 complaints and helped safe $1.3 billion in damages or refunds for individuals.