More than 440,000 customers have been notified by the Federal Court they may be eligible to join a consumer credit insurance class action against ANZ in which QBE is named as one of the respondents.

Plaintiff law firm Slater and Gordon says the legal action, filed in February against the bank with QBE Insurance named as another respondent, accuses them of selling “worthless insurance products” to customers.

The insurance product was sold to the bank’s credit card or personal loan customers.

“The insurance was often sold to people with disabilities, people who were unemployed or people who were chronically ill and therefore likely ineligible to claim,” Slater and Gordon says.

“The class action alleges that many people were led to believe that the insurance was compulsory or free, while others didn’t even know they had been sold it.”

Slater and Gordon filed a similar suit against NAB, where it last year secured a $49.5 million settlement from the bank.