The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has announced that home loans were the subject of almost 10% of the complaints it received in the last year.
That makes home loans the second most complained about topic, behind only credit cards. 14% of all complaints were about credit cards, with home loans accounting for 9%.
Total complaints were down 12% on the 2019/20 financial year – which included the early days of the pandemic – with the total number of complaints lodged just over 70,000 in 2020/2021.
“Significantly, complaints involving financial difficulty were down nearly 40 per cent from the numbers we saw the previous year,” AFCA chief ombudsman David Locke said. “That’s a great outcome and reflects the positive response from government and industry to the impact of COVID.
“However, it’s too early to say we’re out of the woods yet. It may be some months before we know the full impact of the end of government emergency support and assistance from financial firms such as deferred loan repayments. And, of course, we are still living with COVID-19.
“It’s important that consumers and financial service providers continue to work together to resolve issues quickly as they emerge,” Mr Locke said. “The past 12 months show what’s possible when that happens.”
