Living Cost Crisis Triggers Record 100,000 Financial Complaints

“The volume of complaints escalated to AFCA has been increasing at an unsustainable rate,” said Australian Financial Complaints Authority chief ombudsman.

A credit card is placed into a credit card machine for processing payments in La Puente, California, on Sept. 11, 2023. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The double whammy of rising living costs and interest rate hikes has caused more Australians to file complaints against financial institutions in the 2022-2023 financial year.

According to the latest data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), consumers and small businesses escalated 102,790 complaints to the organisation during the period, or one complaint per two minutes, as they could not settle disputes with their financial firms.