One year after Queensland¡¯s devastating floods, victims are still trying to recover from the devastating natural disaster. However insurance companies are not making it easy as they make massive increases on insurance premiums.
What was initially thought to be a typing error, turned out to be alarmingly true for one Ipswich car dealer. On a quote from his insurer, there was an overly dramatic 1000 per cent increase on fees. This rise in price stunned even the company¡¯s broker.
And sadly this is not an isolated incident. For the last 12 months Brendan and Kathy Edwards have been left homeless. During the floods their estate suffered $350 000 in damage. Their insurance company only paid out a mere $12 500, making up barely a fraction of what they needed to rebuild their home. Prior to the floods, the couple paid $3500 a year on their platinum insurance policy and were outraged by what they received in return during their time of need. And now in order to continue protecting their broken home, they must pay more than double their previous amount ($7500).
Now on top of providing for their three children, paying unaffordable amounts to rebuild their broken home (which their insurance company refused to pay for), the Edwards are forced to scrape out $7500 that they do not have to pay an insurance company that ¨C instead of helping them ¨C is draining them.
Federal Financial Services Minister, Bill Shorten, says that insurance companies are trying to make up for their losses by charging massive premium increases, essentially re-victimising victims who are already at their knees. He encourages people to report to the Financial Services Ombudsman if they are feeling like they are being gouged. ¡°People shouldn¡¯t be silent.¡± ?
