The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has confirmed that on 1 November 2020, the six-month COVID-19 temporary time extension for financial firms to provide responses to financial difficulty complaints within 30 days instead of 21 days will come to an end. Background.

From 1 November 2020, AFCA’s process will revert to the original response timeframes, giving financial firms 21 days to respond to financial difficulty complaints and complaints that have already been through internal dispute resolution.

The timeframes will revert and take effect after 11.59pm on 31 October, relevant complaints received after that will be subject to a 21-day response.

AFCA will also require initial responses to complaints that have reached the case management stage within the requested timeframe (7, 14 or 21 days as appropriate).

AFCA has published a detailed process map showing the response timeframes.

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