Yahoo Finance 1 in 4 Aussies eligible for up to $40,000 refund
Millions of Australians are eligible for refunds after having paid for junk insurance products, with more than half not even aware they are eligible.
New research from consumer remediation service Remediator, found that over 50 per cent of Australian consumers who have received junk insurance refunds either didn’t know they held the insurance in the first place or weren’t aware of all the exclusions that meant they would never be able to claim on the policy.
Junk insurance refers to add-on insurances like Consumer Credit Insurance (CCI), Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP), Mortgage Protection Insurance and Loan Protection Insurance.
Also read: Life insurance rip off: 40,000 Aussies due $35 million refund
Also read: 1 million Aussies owed $10 billion: How to claim yours
Also read: 1 in 3 Aussies could be eligible for billions of dollars
Remediator said more than 1 in 4 Australians were sold junk insurance.
“Anyone who has ever held a credit card, had a personal loan or a car loan could be eligible for a refund,” the research said.
The Royal Commission exposed the dodgy tactics banks and insurers used to sell these products, like paying as much as four times the commission to sales agents as was ever paid out to customers on policies.
The average refund amount is $1,962.76, but some have received significantly more.
Remediator said in recent weeks it has been able to deliver as much as $41,449 to a Victorian resident who had been paying for CCI.
Remediator found that he had been paying for CCI on his Westpac Credit Card for over 10 years, but he never knowingly signed up for it in the first place.
“I never thought in a million years I’d see anything refunded,” the man from Hoppers Crossing said.
“It absolutely made my decade.”
Another man, from Derrimut South Australia, received a $32,653 refund for CCI on a credit card.
Remediator CEO Monique Gasson said now is the perfect time to find out if you were charged junk insurance.
“With cost of living pressures so high now is a great time to check if you could get a refund for junk insurance policies,” Gasson said.
“The Banking Royal Commission revealed millions of Australians had been taken advantage of by their banks and insurers.”
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter.
