The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has ordered Suncorp to reinstate a vulnerable mum’s policy and reopen her theft claim after it was found to have poorly investigated the matter.

The complainant, who suffers from anxiety, lodged a claim in October 2022, reporting that her Range Rover had been stolen.  

Suncorp appointed an investigator to examine the claim and interview the woman and her former partner, referred to as FH, in November of that year.   

The insurer then wrote to the claimant on December 22 requesting that she provide call and text records, vehicle documents and financial statements for her and FH by January 6 last year. 

The complaints authority heard the insurer provided “cursory instruction” on how to obtain the documents and did not consider that several suppliers would be closed during the end-of-year period.   

The woman provided Suncorp with some of the requested items but said she could not retrieve purchase or service-related documents, as they were in the car when it was stolen. She said other documents required disclosures from FH, from whom she had difficulty getting information.  

The insurer declined the woman’s claim and cancelled her policy in February last year after alleging she had not co-operated with it by failing to deliver the requested information and had provided other documents in an incorrect format.  

The complainant disputed this but said Suncorp would not respond to her attempts to follow up on the claim “until all documents are presented”.  

The complaints authority says the insurer “did not conduct its investigation of the claim in line with good industry practice”.  

It says Suncorp should have made enquiries directly with FH but instead insisted on the claimant providing information that was unavailable. 

The insurer said it did not gather information from FH because the woman was the registered policyholder, and it fell on her to obtain the documents.  

The authority says the insurer showed “a lack of attention to detail” and failed to explain its concern about the formatting of documents. It says the complainant was “hindered by poor communication and a lack of flexibility on the insurer’s part”.   

“The exchanged material demonstrates the insurer inadequately explained its concerns to the complainant and made unreasonable demands about the outstanding information,” the authority’s adjudicator said.

“It follows the insurer is required to make relevant enquiries with third parties at its cost and then make a decision about the claim.”  

Suncorp must also pay up to $5000 of the woman’s legal expenses and $3000 for non-financial losses. AFCA says the insurer did not make “reasonable attempts to assist the complainant in responding to its requests for information” despite her vulnerable status.

The insurer had identified the woman as a vulnerable customer, given she was a single mother of three and in a poor financial position.  

Click here for the ruling.