In 2018 the Australian Complaints Financial Authority, AFCA was born out of the old Credit Investments Ombudsman (CIO) service that operated on the eastern seaboard. This body is an external dispute resolution organisation that manages and processes complaints consumers lodge in regard to a dissatisfaction of services provided by operators within the financial services sector. They include banks, insurance companies, superannuation funds and in general, financial service sector operators. After its first year of operation AFCA recently released its inaugural report on some statistics that related to complaints and claims for the 12 months leading up to 31/10/19.
Here are some telling statistics from that report :-
73,272 complaints lodged by Australians against, super funds, banks & insurance companies and $185 million paid in compensation claims.
254 complaints lodged against mortgage brokers and $455,000 in compensation paid.
Now whilst it’s still very disturbing seeing the numbers of complaints being lodged, the strong supporting take away from the above is that in a climate of greater focus on customer care and operating in the customers best interest, it would certainly appear that mortgage brokers are operating with far greater attention to this. An average of less than 1 complaint per day across the whole mortgage broking sector is a very strong result by comparison.
Mortgage brokers by their very nature have to operate in the best interests of the client / consumer because they are their life blood . Without them the brokers have no business ! It’s as simple as that. At COMPASS lending and finance we admit we are not perfect, but we are, and always will be customer focused. When challenges arise we look to problem solve to achieve best outcomes for our clients.