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Law firm hits big 4 bank and its subsidiary with class action
A national law firm has officially launched a consumer credit insurance class action against one of Australia’s big four banks and one of its subsidiaries.
Emma Musgrave
Slater and Gordon has filed class action proceedings in the Federal Court against National Australia Bank (NAB) and MLC Limited “on behalf of customers sold worthless credit card insurance”, according to a statement from the firm. MLC is a subsidiary of NAB and its wealth management business, and provides Australian corporate, institutional and retail customers investment, superannuation, insurance and financial advice.
“All of the claimants had a NAB credit card and were then offered NAB credit card insurance,” Mr Paull said.
“However, it was highly unlikely that they would benefit from this policy. Most were existing NAB customers and the bank should have known the insurance was likely to be of little or no benefit to them. Despite knowing this, NAB have continued to push the insurance widely, reaping millions in premiums while doing so.”
Mr Paull explained most people were “sold the insurance over the phone and were not given a reasonable opportunity to understand the terms and conditions of the policy”.
“In the case of the life cover, the policy was of minimal value to many customers. NAB admitted as much in the royal commission," he said.
“Both NAB and MLC were in much stronger bargaining positions than any of the people they were contacting and selling this insurance to. They have taken advantage of hundreds, potentially thousands of their loyal customers.”
To further his point, Mr Paull pointed to Jessica Purcell, who was a full time university student when she was “pressured” to take out consumer credit insurance, “despite being a casual employee at the time and ineligible to claim certain aspects of the policy”.
“It was sold to me like it was something that I had to take out. I honestly wouldn’t have thought twice about it if I hadn’t heard about the class action. I would have just kept paying it,” Ms Purcell said.
Mr Paull noted: “We believe NAB’s and MLC’s conduct falls well short of the standard of behaviour the industry expects”.
“In short, they have taken advantage of people knowing that they can’t cover them,” he said.
“NAB and MLC have been fleecing consumers of millions and it’s only right that they pay it back.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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