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Buy Now Pay Later - Code of Practice (Australia)
We are a member of the Australian Finance Industry Association Limited (‘AFIA’) and have been approved as a Code Compliant Member of the new Buy Now Pay Later Code of Practice (‘BNPL Code’).
A copy of the BNPL Code is available here
We designed Afterpay to be the opposite of traditional credit products, with strong in-built consumer protections. These protections are now enshrined in the BNPL Code, which is applicable from 1 March 2021.
Complying with the BNPL Code:
The BNPL Code sets high standards for the Australian BNPL industry and provides our customers with protections that go beyond what the law requires us to do. Some of the key things that the Code requires Afterpay to do include:
Making sure we provide our customers a product that is suitable
Preventing customers from spending more when they are behind on repayments
Ensuring that customers continue to have access to free and independent complaints handling via the Australian Financial Complaints Authority
Providing hardship assistance to customers that experience financial difficulties.
Under the Code, we are subject to the oversight of the Code Compliance Committee (‘CCC’) which is the independent committee established by AFIA to monitor and investigate compliance with the BNPL Code. Further, our commitments to you under the BNPL Code are enforceable through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (‘AFCA’).
If you have a specific dispute with us that involves a breach of the BNPL Code, you should contact us in the first instance and then contact AFCA, if necessary. For details on how to raise a dispute with us or contact AFCA, please see here. AFCA may not deal with your dispute unless you have tried to resolve the problem with us first.
In addition to contacting us or AFCA, you can also raise your concerns with the CCC. The CCC will not consider your complaint if you are still trying to resolve it with us, or with AFCA.
For further information about the BNPL Code, AFIA, CCC and our Complaints and Hardship approaches, please see the links below.