Complaints - Personal Loan

Contact us about a complaint relating to the Personal Loan

Objective of this policy

Beforepay seeks to maintain and enhance its reputation for providing customers with high quality products and services. We value feedback and complaints as they assist us to improve our products, services and overall customer service.

Beforepay is committed to being responsive to the needs and concerns of its existing and potential customers and to resolving your complaints as quickly as possible. This policy has been designed to provide guidance to our customers on the manner in which Beforepay responds to and resolves your complaint. We are committed to being consistent, fair and impartial when handling your complaint.

The information you will need to share with us

When we investigate your complaint we will be relying on information provided by you and information we may already hold in relation to your account with Beforepay. We may need to contact you to clarify details or request additional information where necessary.

To help us investigate your complaint quickly and efficiently, we will ask you to provide the following information:

• • Your name and contact details;
  • The nature of the complaint;
  • Details of any steps you have already taken to resolve the complaint; 
  • Details of conversations you may have had with us that may be relevant to your complaint.
    

• • Passport
  • Driver’s licence
  • Medicare card
  • Proof of bank account ownership

Help when making a complaint

If you require any assistance when making your complaint, please contact our customer support team via the details set out above.

• Informing them of any complaint about their performance;
• Providing them with an opportunity to explain the circumstances;
• Providing them with appropriate support;
• Updating them on the complaint investigation and the result.
  
  

Recording of complaints

When taking a complaint, we may record and retain the following information:

• The text transcript of chat or email conversations between you and the customer support team member;
• Additional notes and audit logs around any actions taken to modify your account;
• Details of your complaint including the facts and the cause/s of your complaint, the outcome and any actions taken following the investigation of your complaint; and
• Dates and times relating to actions taken to resolve the complaint and communications between us.

As part of our on-going improvement plan, complaints will be monitored for the purposes of identifying trends and rectification/remedial action necessary to mitigate any known or potential issues.

If you lodge a complaint we will record your personal information solely for the purposes of addressing your complaint. Your personal details will be protected from disclosure in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If you think we have breached applicable privacy laws, or you wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information, or otherwise wish to correct the information we hold about you, you can contact us using the details set out above.

Investigation and resolution of complaints

Beforepay is committed to resolving your issues at the first point of contact, however, this will not be possible in all circumstances, in which case a more formal complaints process will be followed as described below.

1. We acknowledge: We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within one (1) business day, or as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving your complaint.
2. We review: Once your complaint has been received, we will undertake an initial review of your complaint. There may be circumstances during the initial review or investigation of your complaint where we may need to clarify certain aspects of your complaint or request additional documentation from you. In such circumstances we will explain the purpose of seeking clarification or additional documentation and provide you with feedback on the status of your complaint at that time. Following our initial review, we will provide an initial response to your complaint within 10 business days of acknowledging receipt of your complaint.
3. We investigate: We will investigate your complaint objectively and impartially, by considering the information you have provided us, our actions in relation to your dealings with us and any other information which may be available, that could assist us in investigating your complaint.
4. We respond: Once we have completed our investigation of your complaint, we will provide you with a written response. The written response will include the outcome of our investigation, your right to take your complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (“AFCA”), and AFCA’s contact details.
5. We take action: Where appropriate we amend our business practices or policies.
6. We record: As described above, we will record various details about your complaint for continuous improvement process and monitoring. All personal information recorded by us will be protected in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

We will provide a resolution to your complaint in accordance with the following timeframes:

Standard complaints: No later than 30 calendar days after receiving the complaint.

Credit-related complaints involving default notices: No later than 21 calendar days after receiving the complaint.

Credit-related complaints involving hardship notices or requests to postpone enforcement proceedings: No later than 21 calendar days after receiving the complaint. Exceptions apply if the credit provider or lessor does not have sufficient information to make a decision, or if they reach an agreement with the complainant.

For credit-related complaints involving hardship notices or requests to postpone enforcement proceedings, in addition to the above, the following timelines may apply:

If we require further information from you, we will do so within 21 calendar days of receiving your complaint. You must respond to us within 21 calendar days of receiving our request, following which we will provide you with a response within 21 days of receipt of the additional information. If we do not receive the requested information from you within 21 calendar days of requesting the information, we will provide you with a response within 7 calendar days.

If agreement is reached about a hardship notice or request to postpone enforcement proceedings, we will confirm the terms or conditions in writing within 30 calendar days.

If we expect a delay in responding to your complaint within the maximum timeframe, we will provide you with a delay notification before the expiry of the maximum timeframe.

If we resolve a complaint within 5 business days of receipt, we will not provide you with a written response, provided, we have resolved your complaint to your satisfaction, or, given you an explanation as to why we cannot take further action to reasonably address the complaint. However, we will provide you with a written response should you request one from us, or if the complaint is about hardship.

You have the right to make enquiries about the current status of your complaint at any time during the investigation and resolution of your complaint by contacting us via the details described above. If we respond to you with an outcome, question, or proposal and do not receive a response from you within 10 business days of our response, we will consider the complaint resolved and closed. We may directly refer your complaints to AFCA for resolution, in instances where we have provided you with an IDR response but the complaint remains unresolved or has not been escalated to AFCA. We will obtain consent from you in case of such referral.  

Complaints about our employees

If you complain about a member of our staff, we will treat your complaint confidentially, impartially and equally (giving equal treatment to all people). We will investigate your complaint thoroughly by finding out the relevant facts, speaking with the relevant stakeholders and verifying explanations where possible.

We will also treat our staff member objectively by:

• Informing them of any complaint about their performance;
• Providing them with an opportunity to explain the circumstances;
• Providing them with appropriate support;
• Updating them on the complaint investigation and the result.

Complaints about our third-party providers

Beforepay may outsource some of its services to third party providers. While Beforepay is committed to engaging third party providers with sound customer service practices, if you are dissatisfied with the service you receive you are welcome to lodge a complaint with us by following the steps set out in this policy or directly with the third party.

Complaints under investigation by regulatory or law enforcement agencies

If your complaint is being investigated simultaneously by a relevant federal, state or territory regulator or law enforcement agency, we may cease to take further action in relation to your complaint pending finalisation of their investigation.

We will where appropriate assist any regulator or law enforcement agency with their investigations.

Escalation of complaints

If you have not yet contacted our support team with your complaint, please email complaints@beforepay.com.au. Our team will send an initial response within 24 business hours and will work with you on a resolution. If you are not satisfied with the outcome or resolution of your complaint by Beforepay, you can contact AFCA using the details set out below.

Last updated October 2024