Super fund accused of overcharging life insurance policies to members

Brought forward by Shine Lawyers, QSuper has been accused of breaching obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 and the Superannuation Industry Act 1993 for failing to notify members of premium changes, which resulted in financial losses for up to 140,000 members.

"QSuper changed their life insurance policy on 1 July 2016 and failed to adequately notify its members of how to get cheaper premiums," class actions practice leader Joshua Aylward said on Thursday.

"Significantly, most of the fund members impacted are Queensland government employees and their spouses, teachers and health industry workers like doctors and psychiatrists.”

It’s also alleged that white collar workers were charged the same increased premiums despite not having the same risk factors in their work.

Mr Aylward alleged that QSuper took advantage of its members, with tens of thousand losing money on investments.

QSuper responded to ifa in a statement on Thursday saying: “QSuper has no comment on a matter before the courts".

The class action comes after the ATO launched an audit of the super giant over a suspected $200 million franking credit stripping scheme in October.

QSuper confirmed at the time that “one matter” had become subject to an audit by the ATO and disclosed to members in the fund’s annual report.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.