Australian banks ignore thousands of customers’ hardship requests

Exclusive: Automated systems have generated cookie cutter' responses that fail to account for individual circumstances, financial watchdog says

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Banks are outright ignoring or offering cookie cutter" responses to a rising number of hardship requests from struggling customers, despite repeated regulatory crackdowns.

Nearly 2,900 customers complained their bank had failed to respond to pleas for assistance in 2024-25, new data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (Afca) showed.