Royal Bank Commission: Thousands of funeral insurance clients may not know that they are not covered

Updated

July 04, 2018 19:50:21

Thousands of clients who have had funeral insurance premiums deducted from social badistance benefits may not know that they are no longer covered, or even that they know that They were paying insurance for a while, said the Royal Bank Commission. The Royal Commission on Banks investigated the Aboriginal Community Benefits Fund (ACBF) for the second day in Darwin, and Executive Director and Administrator Bryn Jones was questioned.

The ACBF was once the only insurance company direct debit premiums for social badistance payments through the CentrePay system, but it was stopped by the federal government in 2015. [19659003] After the ACBF was unable to deduct payments through CentrePay, it canceled the policies of 6,000 people who were underwritten to pay for this insurance.

In cross-examination by an badistant attorney Commissioner Rowena Orr QC, Mr. Jones did the old company's hearing annulled the policies because they could not contact the 6,000 clients.

Mrs. Orr: "You have not lost those customers because of CentrePay, is not it?"

: "They paid via CentrePay."

Mrs. Orr: "Yes, what you have lost is the ability to charge those customers that you have already lost."

Jones: "Yes, but I think that a large majority of these people still do not know that they are not covered."

Mr. Orr: "They may not have known that they were covered the period when you deducted payments from their Centrelink benefits."

Mr. Jones : "This may also be the case, yes."

The CEO has no qualifications, experience in insurance

procedures also revealed that the general manager and director of the ACBF, Mr. Jones, had no formal qualifications, no previous experience in insurance and no professional experience Mr. Jones was appointed to that position only in December of the year. # 39; last year, after meeting the owner in a cafe and made suggestions on how to modernize the company and "fight the negative publicity"

. The head of the executive told the royal commission that he had been introduced to the landlord through the intermediary of his father, a banker.

Mrs. Orr : "What work did you do before this role?"

Jones : "I taught children sport and also worked in the computer sector. "

Mrs. Orr: "Do you have any qualifications, Mr. Jones?"

Mr. Jones : "No, I do not do it."

The investigation revealed that many clients believed that the private company was in fact an Aboriginal service because of its way of selling itself.

The ACBF claims to be "benefit" to indigenous peoples, heard the royal commission, but it has no affiliation with indigenous or governmental bodies.

Yesterday, the investigation allowed Tracey Walsh to believe that any amount paid in excess of the amount of coverage would be returned to her family, which was not the case.

million. Jones said today that 572 customers of 13,460 customers had

In January of this year, the ACBF decided to release those policyholders who they were calling and reported having difficulty honoring their payments.

Twenty-six plan holders have now been released from future payments.

The Royal Commission examined the predatory and exploitative tactics of insurance companies and financial entities Targeting Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders

payments if the candidate died of suicide or self-harm, despite the highest youth suicide rate in the world

In a statement Written by Mr. Jones and read It states that the policy was designed in this way because of the sense of community.

"Many of her clients and local community groups were strongly opposed to suicide coverage because one can see that she tolerates But she told Mr. Jones that it was actually the contrary, and that the company had received backlash from its previous policy.

"I have not had the opportunity":

A Yolngu woman from Arnhem Land Kathy Marika testified about her experience with telemarketers from Let's Insure , an entity of Select AFSL [traduction] "A bit of misunderstanding to be able to hear them properly. "I told them [telemarketer] that I did not want it, I told them I already had one, but it seemed"

Mrs. Marika, 60, currently lives in Orange, Nova Scotia South Wales, and investigated that she was having trouble hearing and that English was her second language

The survey was conducted through a series of telephone calls in which the caller originally told him that he was in charge. 39, was acting a short investigation, and Ms. Marika told them that she already had a policy under her employer and did not want A second

Ms. Marika said to the investigation that & # 39; 39, she only understood half of what had been said, but at the end of the appeals, Ms. Marika was enrolled in a funeral policy for herself, as well as her children and grandchildren. "I had the intention to tell them, but I did not have the opportunity," she said.

A week after her registration, Ms. Marika called Let's Insure to try to cancel her policy, but she was not

While being cross-examined, the General Manager of Select AFSL, Russell Howden, acknowledged that the call for sale to Mrs. Marika was unacceptable

"It was terrible, it was not a model call.", he said.

But the royal commission also read key techniques of a Select Training Manual, which included the use of the client's "fear of loss" and how to "actively overcome the objections of the clients »

Ms. Howden's testimony will continue on Thursday.

Topics:

Insurance,

business-economics-and-finance

banking,

royal commissions,

consumer-finance,

consumer protection,

Australia

Published

July 04, 2018 19:32:00