Financial institutions have won praise from AFCA for the way they responded to COVID-19.
Close to 5,000 complaints have been received by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority related to the virus since the pandemic began.
But the finance watchdog’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Ombudsman David Locke admits the figure is lower than expected and praised finance firms for the way they reacted.
He did concede he is expecting a wave of complaints when government initiatives like JobKeeper are wound back.
“Australian consumers have faced a number of significant challenges this year,” he said.
“The pandemic has had a particular impact on Australian households, with 20% of COVID-19 related complaints being about financial hardship.
Since the virus was declared a pandemic in March, AFCA has received 4,773 complaints relating to COVID-19.
Most of these complaints have been about general insurance…