Financial difficulty

When you can make a complaint to AFCA  

If you are in financial difficulty and you and your financial firm can’t agree on an arrangement that suits you both to repay your debt, AFCA may be able to consider a complaint about your situation.  

First, you will need to make a complaint to us. 

Make a complaint

When you make a complaint to us, we will ask you to tell us about your financial position and how you plan to repay the debt.  

Complete a statement of financial position

We expect your financial firm to work with you and try to assist you to overcome your financial difficulty. In most cases, we will try to resolve your complaint through negotiation or conciliation.  

Issues that we can consider about financial difficulty  

AFCA can consider issues related to financial difficulty, including:  

• If your financial firm has declined your financial difficulty request: For example, if you have asked your financial firm for assistance and that request (such as a repayment variation) is declined and no offer is made by the financial firm – or where the financial firm has not provided reasons for its decision to decline a request for assistance. 
• Default notice: Your financial firm has sent you a default notice when you are experiencing financial difficulty (regardless of whether you have requested assistance or not). 
• If your financial firm has failed to respond to your request for assistance: If your financial firm fails to respond to your request for assistance due to your financial difficulty (note that your request may be actual or implied). 
• Request to suspend enforcement proceedings: Where the financial firm continues action against you to recover a debt after you have made a financial difficulty request. For example, if they continue or start legal proceedings, or if they start or continue a general recovery action, such as taking secured property or inappropriate debt collection activity (including if you’re being contacted by debt collectors after you have made a financial difficulty request).  
• You have received a default court judgment in relation to a debt with a financial firm: If you have received a default judgment in relation to an outstanding debt with a financial firm and the firm has declined your request for assistance in repaying the judgment debt, we may be able to assist you in specific circumstances. 

What happens after you make a complaint  

After reviewing your financial firm’s response to your request for financial difficulty assistance, we will decide whether a conciliation conference is appropriate, which are mostly conducted by telephone.  

If AFCA decides that a conciliation conference is appropriate, we will arrange the conference. Before a conciliation conference, we may ask the parties to provide information that has not previously been provided. This may, for example, include details of your financial position including your income and expenses, details of the debt and arrears and the estimated value of any security such as a property. 

Where a conciliation conference is conducted, it is compulsory for both the financial firm and the person making the compliant to attend. You may also have an authorised representative (an agent) attend. It’s important to know that the people who attend the conciliation conference must have authority to settle the complaint and agree on the outcome at the conference. 

If a complaint is not resolved at a conciliation conference or we decide that a conciliation conference is not appropriate for a complaint, then we can proceed to decide the complaint. 

Other steps you can take to help manage your situation 

• Talk to a financial counsellor: Financial counsellors provide their services free of charge and can talk with you about what options might be available to you. You can contact a financial counsellor by calling 1800 007 007 to speak to a financial counsellor The National Debt Helpline website also has step-by-step guides on how to tackle financial problems.
• Complete a Statement of Financial Position: An important step in overcoming your financial difficulty is to get an understanding of your financial position and how much you can afford to pay towards your debts. To help with this, complete a Statement of Financial Position including details of your income, expenses and debts you owe your financial firm and other financial institutions. If you need help to do this, we encourage you to contact a financial counsellor.
• Talk to your financial firm: Contact your financial firm and tell them about your situation. Hardship contact details for your financial firm will be on their website, or you can look for their contact details using our online member look up facility. Ask your financial firm if they have a dedicated financial hardship customer representative that you can speak to. You may be able to come to an arrangement with your financial firm that will help you get back on track.
• Make payments if you can: It is important that you make whatever payments you can, even if your financial firm has not yet agreed to an arrangement. This is because interest will usually continue to accrue, and if you do not make payments your situation could get worse.

More information 

• We are committed to making our service easy to access. Read more information about how to get extra assistance to make a complaint to us.  
• You can read more about our approach to financial difficulty and some of the common issues we see.  
• There is a range of other organisations that may be able to help you.  
• A Statement of Financial Position can help you understand how much you can afford to pay towards your debts.