The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) says the number of complaints made to the scheme by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples rose 13% last financial year and there was a disproportionately high level of issues around hardship. 

The complaints number increased to 2523, representing about 3% of the nearly 97,000 total complaints across banking and finance, investments and advice, insurance and superannuation. 

The products most complained about by First Nations people were personal transaction accounts, personal loans and credit cards, while the most common issues were unauthorised transactions, including scams, delays in insurance claim handling, and service quality. 

More than one in 10 complaints submitted were about financial hardship, which compares with one in 20 involving hardship for AFCA complaints overall.   

“The fact that there are more than double the proportion of complaints about hardship among First Nations peoples is of great concern to AFCA and we call on financial firms to do more to address this,” Deputy Chief Ombudsman June Smith, said. 

“We encourage firms to be more proactive about identifying First Nations customers in hardship and working with them to alleviate their financial problems.” 

First Nations peoples should be served by organisations that are culturally aware and engaged in culturally sensitive practice, and AFCA continues to review its own performance against this goal, she says. 

AFCA encourages people to indicate when lodging a complaint that they may need flexibility, such as longer deadlines, if they are experiencing difficult circumstances. People can also appoint a representative to assist them, and AFCA can provide referrals to free community support services.