Millions of Australians can get a $7,500 refund on unnecessary mortgage and credit card insurance - and they don't even need old paperwork.
For years, Melbourne mother-of-four and grandmother Marie Chronopoulos had spent thousands on insurance linked to Commonwealth Bank of Australia loans.
She was paying expensive monthly mortgage insurance for two homes in regional Queensland, despite already having the necessary 20 per cent deposit for both properties when she took out loans nearly two decades ago.
Then there was the insurance on a CBA mortgage and personal loan where the repayments would be serviced in the event of illness or injury.
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Australians can get a $7,500 refund on unnecessary mortgage and credit card insurance - and they don't even need old paperwork. For years, Melbourne mother-of-four and grandmother Marie Chronopoulos had spent thousands on insurance linked to Commonwealth Bank of Australia loans
The trouble is, these 'junk insurance' products pay out very little back to consumers, with the banks until recently using pressure tactics to fool borrowers at loan approval time.
Home borrowers with a 20 per cent mortgage deposit, who don't need lenders' mortgage insurance, have over many years been sold unnecessary insurance of a different nature with products often having obscure names.
While the Commonwealth Bank no longer sells this product, the corporate regulator is taking legal action against the big banks for duping customers into taking out these products.
While the banks could end up being fined, individual consumers don't get anything back unless they stake a claim for a refund or they are part of a legal class action.
To see if they are entitled to a refund, they can hire consumer remediation services established last year following the banking royal commission.
In mid-July, Ms Chronopoulos contacted insurance refund group Remediator after seeing a Facebook post and by September, she had received $7,484 after paying a 20 per cent fee on the no-win, no-fee basis.
'It was one of the nicest surprises - the longest lockdown ever and to receive that was just awesome,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'Put a claim in, I tell you what, it's very well worth it. I've put all my friends on to it and they've all made the phone calls and quite a few have got returns back as well.'
Ms Chronopoulos, a safety adviser, is planning to spend her insurance refund on a January trip to Yeppoon, in coastal Queensland, to see her relatives after nearly two years apart because of Covid pandemic state border closures.
In mid-July, Ms Chronopoulos contacted insurance refund group Remediator after seeing a Facebook post and by September, she had received $7,484 after paying a 20 per cent fee on the no-win, no-fee basis
The refund, which will help fund the cost of a sought-after hotel room near the beach, didn't require her to search extensively for old paperwork from many years ago.
Instead, she simply told read more from dailymail.....
