Background

What was the Royal Commission Review created to reveal?

Ever since the 2008 GFC and subsequent heavy regulation of international banking institutions, there has been speculation over the Australian banking industry’s level of misconduct. The review was conducted in an environment of political pressure and has revealed what many in the industry already assumed. The below details a condensed version of the key issues that all customers of banks may have been subjected to as identified by the 900+ page Royal Commission Report.

Do you think any of these common issues may have happened to you?

General Banking

• The bank added an informal overdraft without my consent and fees were charged on this
• The bank charged dishonor fees on a basic account
• I was charged default interest during a time I was effected by drought or other natural disaster

Insurance

• Insurance was added on without my knowledge or consent
• The insurance was restrictive and meant I had issue with claiming
• I had been given unclear information regarding insurance at a time when I was seeking to consolidate my insurance this lead me to making a poor decision with which superfund to remain with (and I have lost out on preferential insurance as a result)
• Insurances were added on without my understanding
• I was pressured into taking out the product
• I was not told I was taking out an insurance policy
• I found it difficult to cancel a policy I no longer wanted or needed
• I tried to claim on my insurance policy but was declined
• I was lead to believe that the insurance policy covered my reason for claiming.
• The insurance provider dealt in heavy handed tactics to find reason to decline my claim
• The insurance provider surveilled me and this exacerbated my condition
• The insurer communicated in a way that was bullying, threatening and misleading
• Insurance premiums were deducted from my super account, despite being below a reasonable threshold
• Insurance premiums were deducted from my super account, despite reasonably being unable to claim, due to my circumstances
• Misleading content on the website influenced me to purchase a product that was not suitable for me

Credit Cards

• The credit limit provided was unsuitable due to my ability to repay at the time, leaving me at a financial disadvantage
• The bank made an unsolicited offer to me to increase my credit card limit, they did not take into account my full circumstances and as a result this left me with higher credit card costs

Mortgages

• I was lead to take out higher lending by my broker, putting me into undue financial pressure
• I was put in a higher cost mortgage than what was available in the open market at the time as my broker received a higher commission for doing so
• The rate of my car finance was higher than average, this was to cover the sales persons commission
• My personal information was not captured in its entirety so that I could have received car finance that I couldn’t afford

Business lending

• I took a small business loan and was led to believe I could extend the loan, however this wasn´t granted

About Financial Planners

• My adviser recommended me products from his financial firm despite there being other products in the open market that would be more suitable
• I was regularly charged a fee for service despite not receiving an ongoing service
• I was under the impression the adviser was acting in my best interests and did not realise I could have benefitted from obtaining advice that was more independent elsewhere
• I was sold insurances and was not made aware of the preferential commissions the adviser received. I think I could’ve received better products if the advice had been independent
• My family member had passed away, but was still charged a fee for service, that could clearly not have been provided
• My adviser failed to formulate, regularly review and give effect to an appropriate investment strategy of my funds
• I was provided with only the investment performance figures, before fees and taxes.
• I was still charged fees, despite my products being wound down

SUPER

• Advice fees were being charged from my super account, however the advice given related to matters beyond super. As such this reduced my super position unfairly.
• Advice fees were deducted from MYSuper account
• I am a retail client and I received an unsolicited offer of sale of a superannuation product
• I paid higher fees than I would have during my transition to MySuper
• I was sold super in a branch, the salesperson asked me to fill out personal information about myself and then told me about a product. I believed that my personal circumstances were being considered when I was told about this product.
• I was switched from my super product without fully understanding the consequences of doing so, this is because information was not made clear to me during about the products
• I believe I was affected by AMP’s Fee Rebate Incident and Expense Recovery Incident
• I had accessibility issues in regards to obtaining information and benefit from my super
• A switch was made without providing me with an SOA or an FSG and I do not believe it was done in my best interests

Our Commitment to you

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal information and complying with the privacy act.We will use the information you provide to help us provide advice, for running and monitoring your claim and for statistical analysis. We will keep your personal information only for as long as necessary. We will always ensure that your information is secure and adequately protected and processed in line with the Privacy Act 1988