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Class action filed against Aussie Home Loans
A class action has been filed against Aussie Home Loans, with “up to 30,000” of its mortgage holders fighting for refunds from the “alleged worthless insurance policies” it provided them.
Grace Robbie
Plaintiff firm Shine Lawyers has launched a class action against Australian retail financial service group Aussie Home Loans.
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Shine Lawyers filed the class action in the Federal Court on behalf of 30,000 mortgage holders who purchased a Mortgage Protection Plan or My Protection Plan policy by Aussie Home Loans from 28 February 2018 onwards.
The class action alleges that the individuals who purchased the insurance policies in question “were misled into purchasing a product of little to no value” and that “Aussie Home Loans brokers engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct”.
Shine first launched an investigation into a potential class action in September 2022 after the brokers were accused of selling deceptively low-value policies to customers in a new class action investigation.
Shine Lawyers class actions practice leader Kione Johnson stated that “the policy promised mortgage holders assistance for home loan repayments in the event of illness or injury, loss of employment or death”.
“We allege it was an unnecessary expense given most customers may have already held life insurance policy that offered them this security and coverage, and/or because Aussie’s policy only provided cover in a limited range of circumstances,” she commented.
The class action is being funded by Woodsford – and director Alex Hickson stated that “these types of insurance were not in the interests of people who obtained them, and Woodsford is committed to backing this action against Aussie Home Loans on behalf of those people who have lost money making payments towards these policies”.
Shine Lawyers revealed that the class action will determine how the Aussie Home Loans brokers who sold these policies “breached their duties to act in a customer’s best interests, and whether selling the insurance amounted to misleading or deceptive [conduct]”.
Johnson commented on her despondency towards large businesses, like Aussie Home Loans, taking advantage and creating “redundant policies” for first home buyers.
“First home buyers are often the first to fall victim to redundant policies like this, and it’s really disappointing to see large businesses taking advantage of young couples and families just trying to make their way,” she said.
“The great Australian dream of owning a home has enough challenges without the banks making that pathway even more expensive and complicated.”
