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AFCA raises SME finance monetary limits

by Malavika Santhebennur11 minute read
AFCA raises SME finance monetary limits

The financial complaints body has adjusted its monetary limits for SME finance complaints including the maximum size of a credit facility.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has updated monetary limits for complaints, including increasing the maximum size of a credit facility it can consider a complaint about.

The changes, which came into effect on 1 January 2021, apply to all complaints received from that date.

The new monetary limits include the maximum value of a claim for compensation AFCA can consider, the maximum size of a credit facility AFCA can consider a complaint about, and the maximum amount AFCA can award a consumer or small-to-medium enterprise (SME) for complaints about banking and finance, general insurance, life insurance, and investments and advice.

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Superannuation complaints are not affected.

On or after 1 January 2021, for claims arising from a credit facility provided to a small business or primary producer by a borrower of a small business loan, the compensation amount limit per claim has increased from $1 million to $1.085 million.

For claims arising from a credit facility provided to a small business or primary producer by a borrower of a primary producer loan, the compensation amount limit per claim has increased from $2 million to $2.170 million.

For claims arising from a credit facility provided to a small business or primary producer by a guarantor to set aside a guarantee supported by security over other security for a small business loan, the limit per claim has increased from $1 million to $1.085 million, and it has increased from $2 million to $2.170 million for a primary producer loan.

For all of these claims, the credit facility must not exceed $5.425 million, as per the monetary restriction on AFCA’s jurisdiction.

For claims arising from a credit facility provided to someone other than a small business or primary producer by a borrower, the limit per claim has increased from $500,000 to $542,000.

For claims arising from a credit facility provided to someone other than a small business or primary producer by a guarantor to set aside a guarantee supported by security over other security, the limit per claim has also increased from $500,000 to $542,000.

For both these types of claims, the amount claimed by the complainant must not exceed $1.065 million.

The changes are set out in AFCA’s rules, which require AFCA to update its monetary limits on 1 January 2021, and then every three years thereafter.

As per the rules, the previous monetary limits have been adjusted based on the male total average weekly earnings for the three-year period up to 30 September 2020.

[Related: Complaints extension to end on 1 November]

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Malavika Santhebennur

AUTHOR

Malavika Santhebennur is a content specialist at Momentum Media, focusing on mortgages and finance writing.

Before joining Momentum Media in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media, where she was writing about financial services.

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