The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has slapped Finder (finder .com.au) with a fine of $10,800 for allegedly making false or misleading claims about the number of health insurance policies it compares on it website.
Finder, which trades as Hive Empire, runs an online comparison service that claims to enable consumers to compare insurance services financial services, energy and gas provision, technology and telecommunications, online shopping coupons and deals, travel, and accommodation.
The ACCC alleged that between February and May, Finder claimed on its website that its health insurance comparison service allowed consumers to “compare roughly 65,000 policies”. Actually, the number of policies compared was substantially less.
Finder was alleged to have made the misleading representation at the time when Australian health funds announce their annual premium “rate rises”. Known as the industry “switch period”, this is the annual peak period when consumers seek to change health insurance policies or insurance providers.
{loadposition sam08}“The ACCC considered that Finder represented that its health insurance comparison service was more comprehensive than it was. In our view this was misleading and likely to divert consumers away from other online comparison services,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.
“Consumers increasingly rely on comparator platforms to inform their choice of insurance provider, particularly when faced with a large range of policy options. Operators of comparator websites must ensure that the claims they make about market and product coverage are accurate so that consumers can make fully informed decisions.”
Finder has now removed the incorrect claim from its website.