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Got an Issue with your non bank credit provider? Talk to the Credit Ombudsman

So you are doing your periodic check of your credit card statement (or you should be doing it anyway) and you notice an unfamiliar transaction, what do you do? The first thing most people would do is to call their provider, and this would be the best option as most banks have a large customer service base that can help you find more details about the transaction, but sometimes when your credit lender is a not a bank the support may not be so good, there maybe very little support or you may even get ignored in extreme cases. If you still cannot resolve your complaint after speaking with your provider then this is where the Australian Credit Ombudsman Service Limited (COS) can help, they are an external third party resolution scheme that is approved by the Australian Securties and Investments Commissions (ASIC). The Credit Ombudman provides a free alternative method for disputes instead of legal proceedings, remember they are only dealing with non bank providers.

Making a complaint with the Credit Ombudsman is very easy as they have an online wizard where that you can follow and enter in all the details of your complaint. The series of questions will determine if they can work with you on your case or not, when there is a situation they cannot deal with they will provide you with alternate routes for you to take your case to. The COS can help you present your complaint if you have difficulty doing it yourself, they will not take sides with anyone just help you to present your details in clear and concise way.

When you make your complaint:

• you do not need to use any complicated formal or technical language
• you must make it clear what compensation you are seeking or what action you want the provider to take
• you must give the COS all documents that a relevant to your case
• you must give permission for COS to give the documents to the provider.

On the COS website they have a complaints checker where you can see if they can help you with your type of complaint, as they cannot deal with all types of issues. The types of complaints in general that COS can deal with are:

• the credit card provider has breached relevant laws
• has not met a good standard of practice in the Credit Industry
• if you think they have acted unfairly towards you.

 Some things the COS cannot deal with

• if your provider is not a member of the COS at the time of the cause of the complaint happened
• if your complaint is not related to the services of the credit provider.
• if you are claiming more than $250,000 in compensation
• any transactions outside of Australia
• You can see a full list here

So if you are looking for help with your credit complaint be sure to go to the Credit Ombudsman website to see if they can help you.

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