How to complain to AFCA about a credit provider

If a credit provider has refused hardship, listed a default you say is wrong, approved a loan you argue was unsuitable, or simply not answered a complaint, the next institution is usually not a court. It is the Australian Financial Complaints Authority — AFCA.

AFCA is the ombudsman scheme for financial firms in Australia. Licensed consumer-credit providers are generally required to be members. The service is free for the person complaining. It is not a regulator like ASIC, it is not a court, and it is not a debt-negotiation business. Those distinctions matter, because people arrive at AFCA expecting a trial, a fine, or a miracle deletion of a true debt. They will not get those. They can get a decision about whether the firm should correct a file, refund a fee, vary an arrangement, or pay compensation within AFCA’s limits.

Plenty Credit writes this in the same tone the old Plenty Community Credit Union used for complaints about a card or a personal loan: gather the letters, write the dates, do the internal step, then escalate. This is general information, not a recommendation to lodge, and not legal advice about your matter.

What is AFCA and is it free?

AFCA is an external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme authorised to handle complaints about its members, which include banks, many credit unions, most non-bank lenders, credit-card issuers, and — after the 2025 buy now pay later reforms — BNPL providers that are low cost credit licensees. If the firm has an Australian credit licence for consumer credit, membership is part of the furniture.

Free for you means you do not pay AFCA to lodge. The members fund the scheme. That is why a collections letter that says “go to AFCA if you disagree” is not doing you a trick. It is pointing at the scheme the firm already pays for.

AFCA is not:

• ASIC, which licenses and can take enforcement action against firms
• the National Debt Helpline, which is financial counselling (still call 1800 007 007 if the budget is the problem)
• a court that can issue a warrant
• a credit-repair company

MoneySmart’s page on how to complain about a financial service sits this in the official order: firm first, AFCA second, other bodies if needed. Use that order unless there is a reason to skip.

If the firm is not an AFCA member and should be, that is itself a fact to take to ASIC. If the firm is a small trader that never held a credit licence, AFCA may not have jurisdiction. The membership search on AFCA’s site is the check to run before you invest an evening in the form.

Do you have to complain to the lender first?

In most cases, yes. That first step is internal dispute resolution — IDR. ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 271 is the current public guide to how financial firms should run IDR. For many complaints the firm has 30 calendar days to provide a written IDR response, with some variations and with a duty to tell you if it needs longer.

IDR is not a complaints “vibe”. It is a named process. Use the firm’s complaints email, web form, or the address in the credit guide. Write:

• who you are and the account number
• what happened, with dates
• what you want (a listing removed, a hardship variation, a fee refund, an explanation)
• the documents you attach
• a request for a written IDR response and a reference number

Send it in a way you can prove. Keep the chat log if that is all they offer, then follow up by email so there is a spine.

If the firm gives you a response you accept, stop. If it gives you a response you do not accept, or the timeframe passes without a proper response, you generally have what AFCA needs to open a complaint. AFCA can sometimes take a complaint earlier — for example if IDR is a dead letter, or delay would cause significant harm. Do not assume that exception. Try IDR, then lodge.

Hardship requests and IDR sometimes get tangled. A hardship letter under section 72 of the National Credit Code is a request to change the contract. A complaint is a statement that the firm has already handled something poorly. You can have both on the go. Label them clearly. Our hardship guide — how to ask your lender for help — is the first document if the live problem is repayments.

How do you lodge an AFCA complaint?

AFCA’s ordinary path is the online form at afca.org.au/make-a-complaint. There is also a phone line if the form is not accessible. You will need:

• the firm’s name as it appears on the contract (not only the brand on the app)
• your details and a safe postal or email address
• account numbers
• a short, dated story of what happened
• what you want as an outcome
• the IDR reference, if you have one
• attachments: contract, notices, hardship letters, statements, default listing printouts, IDR response

Write the story as a timeline. “On 12 March I sent a hardship letter. On 4 April the lender listed a default. On 18 April IDR said no.” A timeline is harder to waffle around than a page of feelings, even when the feelings are justified.

Say what you want in language AFCA can order. “I want the default listing corrected and the fees refunded from March” is useful. “I want them punished” is not, because AFCA does not punish. “I want my credit score to be 900” is not something an ombudsman can type into Equifax.

If identity is the issue, say so and attach the police or bureau correspondence. If responsible lending is the issue, attach the application, the bank statements you gave them, and what you say they ignored. If buy now pay later is the product, name the provider and the dates of the missed debit; the 2025 rules mean many of those firms are now in the same AFCA paddock as card issuers.

You may lodge on behalf of someone else with authority. Do not lodge a replica complaint through a paid “AFCA specialist” who wants a slice of any refund. The form is designed for the public.

What are the time limits?

AFCA’s Rules set time limits. They are not identical for every product. For many credit complaints there is:

• a period running from the firm’s IDR response (often discussed as two years for certain complaints), and
• an outer limit running from when you became aware, or should reasonably have become aware, of the loss (often discussed as six years for certain complaints)

Superannuation, privacy, and some other categories have their own clocks. Do not borrow a superannuation time limit for a credit-card default.

If you are close to a limit, lodge. You can add documents later more easily than you can revive a complaint AFCA has refused as out of time. AFCA can extend in some circumstances. Extensions are not a plan. They are a discretion.

Court proceedings can affect whether AFCA will hear the same dispute. If a statement of claim has already been filed, get advice quickly rather than assuming the ombudsman and the Magistrates’ Court will politely wait for each other. What happens if you default covers how court sits in the wider sequence.

What outcomes can AFCA order?

Within its monetary caps and product rules, AFCA can require a member to, among other things:

• refund fees or interest
• pay compensation for direct financial loss, and in some cases for non-financial loss, up to published limits
• correct or update information sent to a credit reporting body
• change the way an account is administered
• vary a contract in ways that reflect a fair reading of the law and good industry practice, including hardship
• apologise

It can also decide that the firm does not have to do anything. A complaint is not a finding. Some complaints fail because the debt is owed, the notice was sent, and the listing rules were met. That is still a useful answer if it stops you paying a repair firm to chase a ghost.

AFCA first tries negotiation and conciliation. Many credit complaints end in an agreed pause, a payment plan, or a listing update without a formal determination. If agreement fails, a case worker or ombudsman can issue a decision. If you accept the decision, it generally binds the firm. If you reject it, you usually keep your right to go to court, subject to limitation periods. The firm does not get a second vote if you accept.

Monetary caps change. Check AFCA’s current tables rather than an old forum post. A six-figure mortgage dispute and a $900 BNPL fee are not handled with the same ceiling in mind.

Is AFCA the same as going to court?

No. That is the point of EDR.

Court is public, formal, and able to make orders with the force of the state — judgments, garnishees, possession. You can lose and become liable for costs in many civil matters. Procedure is unforgiving of missed dates.

AFCA is a dispute-resolution scheme. It looks at fairness, the law, and good industry practice. It is designed so you do not need a barrister. It cannot send the sheriff. It can tell a member to pay money or fix a file, and members are required to comply with binding decisions. ASIC can take an interest if they do not.

IDR is the firm’s own process. EDR is AFCA. People mix the acronyms. Remember the order: IDR then EDR, unless an exception applies. ASIC sits above both as the regulator. You can report misconduct to ASIC and complain to AFCA; they do different jobs. ASIC will not usually umpire your single loan. AFCA will not prosecute the industry.

If a paid representative tells you to skip IDR, skip AFCA, and “go straight to court for a bigger number”, ask who pays the costs if you lose. Then read the contract anyway.

What should you include in a complaint?

A complaint that works is a small archive:

• the credit contract and any variation
• statements that show the disputed fees or the missed payments
• hardship letters and the firm’s replies — or the absence of replies
• default notices and listing notices
• screenshots of the app if that is how the firm communicates, with dates visible
• the IDR complaint and the IDR response
• credit reports showing the listing, if the listing is in dispute — see how to get a free credit report
• a one-page chronology

Leave out the novel about every customer-service call unless the conduct (harassment, for example) is the complaint. AFCA can ask for more. Starting with a binder of unsorted PDFs slows everyone down.

If you are in financial difficulty while the complaint runs, keep paying what you have said you can pay, if you can, and tell AFCA the account is still live. A complaint does not freeze interest by magic. Sometimes the firm will put collections on hold once AFCA is involved. Ask for that in writing.

Do not open a payday loan to look current on the account you are complaining about. Do not hire a credit-repair outfit to lodge AFCA for you as a package deal. ASIC’s warnings in that sector exist because people pay for letters they could send themselves.

Flinders Street station is a useful picture only in this sense: everyone is trying to get onto the right platform, and the destination boards are public. AFCA’s board is public too — Rules, time limits, membership, outcomes. Read them, do IDR, lodge with a timeline, and keep a copy. The debt and hardship hub links the related guides if the complaint is only one piece of a wider mess.