Going to AFCA - Mortgage stress

Mortgage stress logo You can take make a complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), the external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme for your lender by:

using AFCA's online form. This is the fastest way to make your complaint.
writing to AFCA, or
contacting AFCA by telephone on 1800 931 678.

If you have a disability or will have difficulty completing the application form, you can ask AFCA to help you complete the application over the phone. If you need an interpreter, tell ACFA and they will organise a telephone interpreter for you for free.

What information do I need to include with my complaint?

The application form requires you to outline your complaint and what result you want. If you are lodging a complaint about a hardship variation, you should include details of:

when and how you asked the lender for a hardship variation
what repayment arrangements you asked for
what response, if any, you received from the lender, and
what outcome you want to achieve.

You should make it clear in your application if you do not want to be contacted by email, as that is usually the preferred method of communication.

If you are having problems lodging the complaint with AFCA, you can either contact AFCA or get advice.

Make sure your complaint has been received

If you are lodging a complaint with AFCA and have received a Writ and are close to the deadline to file a Memorandum of Appearance, you should:

contact AFCA to make sure it has received your dispute and has told the lender that it has received your dispute
contact the lender to tell them you have lodged a dispute with ACFA.