The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by making its complaints handling system more flexible.The financial ombudsman announced yesterday that it will give consumers, small businesses and financial services companies more time to deal with complaints.Normally, financial services companies have 21 days to respond when AFCA notifies them that a complaint has been lodged. That deadline has been extended to 30 days.AFCA chief executive David Locke said in a statement: "The extension allows firms more time to resolve disputes with their customers, without the need to come to AFCA for external dispute resolution."Locke said some companies were dealing with unprecedented numbers of customer queries and hardship requests."From a consumer perspective, it is important to note that if a financial difficulty case has been brought to AFCA, then in most cases no enforcement action can be taken while the matter is with us," he said.AFCA expects the changes to its procedures to be in place for six months.