The protection will support home loan repayments for around 12 months if homeowners or their dependents pass away or are diagnosed with a terminal illness
Image: CBA launches new coverage for homeowners. (Credit: Commonwealth Bank of Australia.)
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has launched Home Loan Compassionate Care, a complementary protection policy for owner-occupied homeonwers.
The policy will support homeonwers by paying their repayments for around 12 months, if they, their spouse or dependent passes away or is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
As per CBA’s research, a third of Australians would be able to cover their home loan repayments for up to six months, if they, their spouse or a dependent passed away or was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Also, one in 10 homeowners could only be able to cover mortgage repayments for only a month or less based on current income and savings.
The bank has launched Home Loan Compassionate Care for owner-occupied home loan customers aged between 18 and 59 years.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia retail banking services group executive Angus Sullivan said: “We know that mortgage repayments are the single biggest financial commitment for Australian homeowners, so when the unthinkable happens we’ll support our customers by making their home loan repayments for around 12 months at no cost.
“We’re proud that together with AIA we have been able to deliver this Australian-first for new home loan customers and will be making it available to our existing customers at no cost to thank them for their loyalty.”
CBA’s research revealed that 45% of the respondents could also need financial assistance to cover mortgage repayments
The research also showed that more than half of Australian homeowners have not talked to their spouse or dependents about how they would meet the ongoing home loan repayments if they passed away or were diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Furthermore, Commonwealth Bank of Australia stated that nearly half of all respondents said that they could manage the monthly home loan repayments, a third were not fully aware about the details of their home loan, with nearly 40 of women in the dark then men (29%).
About 45% of the respondents could also need financial assistance to cover mortgage repayments and the number is expected to reach up to 55%, if homeowners have children under 18 years of age.
Angus Sullivan continued saying: “If something were to happen, the last thing you should have to worry about is your home loan. In designing this protection, we’ve made sure there’s no need to sign up or to activate it.
“We’ve also consulted with our own employees who have gone through similar, difficult experiences to ensure the end-to-end claims process is as easy and stress-free as possible, and a dedicated team has undergone specialised training to handle these sensitive matters.”