As part of the AFCA transition, from 1 November 2018, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First – Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Regulations 2018 (the AFCA Regulations) amended Forms 5, 9 and 17 in the Credit Regulations to replace references to predecessor EDR schemes with references to the AFCA scheme. Background.

ASIC Credit (Amendment) Instrument 2018/665 has now been registered to amend ASIC Credit (AFCA transition) Instrument 2018/448 to extend transitional disclosure relief for updating external dispute resolution scheme details in National Credit Code Forms 5, 9 and 17 during the period from 1 November 2018 to 30 June 2019.

The amending instrument extends the transitional relief in Instrument 2018/448 to the disclosures required by Forms 5 (Things you should know about your proposed credit contract), 9 (Things you should know about guarantees) and 17 (Things you should know about your consumer lease) of the Credit Regulations.

The relief is subject to the credit provider or lessor making current information about the AFCA scheme available through other means. This will give credit providers and lessors time to amend their documentation and adapt to the significant changes in the dispute resolution environment introduced by the AFCA Act.

IDR response letters an disclosure documents.

From 21 September 2018 until AFCA commences on 1 November 2018, AFCA members must provide contact details of both AFCA and the relevant predecessor dispute resolution scheme (FOS, CIO or SCT) in their IDR response letters and ‘delay letters’.

By 1 July 2019, members must also include AFCA’s contact details in their Financial Services Guide or Credit Guide and in other relevant disclosure documents.

AFCA has been operating the FOS scheme since 1 May 2018 (prior to AFCA commencing on 1 November 2018).