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ARTICLE · 14 JUNE 2023

Demystifying AFCA - Part One: Overview and complaint fundamentals

Bartier Perry Solicitors
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AFCA (the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) is a "one-stop shop" to resolve all financial complaints.

AustraliaFinance and Banking
Gavin Stuart
Gavin Stuart
Emma Boyce
Emma Boyce
James Duff
James Duff
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The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is an independent and external complaint resolution scheme which considers complaints from consumers against entities operating in the credit, financial services, superannuation, and insurance industries.

This bulletin is the first of a three-part series examining the role of AFCA, the complaints process, and the powers and remedies available to AFCA with a focus on consumer complaints against lenders. In this piece, we provide an overview of AFCA generally as well as a detailed analysis of who can make a complaint and who a complaint can be made against.

Overview of AFCA

The AFCA scheme was introduced by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First – Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Act 2018. AFCA was authorised by the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services in 2018 and is a consolidation of a number of previous external dispute resolution schemes including the

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