The Banking Code of Practice: Your Practical Rights

Key takeaways

• It binds subscribing banks contractually, so AFCA can enforce it.
• Hardship provisions require banks to genuinely consider your request.
• Guarantors get specific protections including time to consider and independent advice.
• Not every lender subscribes - non-banks have separate but similar obligations.

The commitments that matter most

• Financial hardship. The bank must consider a hardship request and respond within set timeframes.
• Guarantors. Must receive information about the borrower's position, time to consider, and be encouraged to get independent advice.
• Vulnerable customers. Extra care where age, disability, family violence or financial abuse is involved.
• Plain language in documents and clear fee disclosure.
• Direct debits and chargebacks handled within defined timeframes.

Using it in practice

The Code is most useful when you cite it specifically. Rather than "I want help", a hardship request that says "I am giving notice of financial hardship under the National Credit Code and the Banking Code of Practice, and requesting a variation of my repayments" triggers a defined process with obligations attached.

If the bank does not follow the process, that failure itself becomes grounds for an AFCA complaint.

Where it does not reach

Only subscribing banks are bound. Many non-bank lenders are not subscribers, though they remain subject to the National Credit Code, responsible lending obligations and AFCA membership.

Check whether your lender subscribes before relying on a specific Code provision - the Australian Banking Association publishes the list.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Code legally enforceable?

It forms part of your contract with a subscribing bank, so yes in that sense. AFCA applies it directly when determining complaints.

What if my lender is not a subscriber?

You still have the National Credit Code, responsible lending obligations and access to AFCA. The protections overlap substantially even without the Code.

How quickly must a bank respond to hardship?

The National Credit Code sets statutory timeframes for responding to a hardship notice, and the Code reinforces them. If the deadline passes without a response, that is itself a complaint.

Related reading

• Financial Hardship: Your Rights Before You Miss a Payment
• Guarantor Home Loans: How Family Security Works
• APRA, ASIC, RBA and the ACCC: Who Regulates What

Sources

• Banking Code of Practice — Australian Banking Association
• National Credit Code hardship provisions — Federal Register of Legislation