Cancelling home insurance
Can home insurance be cancelled?
Yes – you can cancel your Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance policy at any time.
How do I cancel my home insurance?
Simply call us on 1800 182 310 and we’ll help you.
Does home insurance have a cooling-off period?
Yes — Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance policies have a 21-day cooling-off period.
If you cancel your policy within 21 days of buying or renewing it and you haven’t made a claim, you’ll receive a full refund of the premium you’ve paid.
If I cancel my home insurance, will I have to pay a fee?
If you cancel your policy 21 days after buying or renewing it (the cooling-off period), you may have to pay an ‘early cancellation’ fee of $40.
Can I cancel my home insurance policy and get a refund?
If you cancel your home and/or contents insurance policy
- within 21 days of buying or renewing it (the cooling-off period) you’ll receive a full refund of your premium payments (as long as you have not made a claim).
- in other circumstances (unless you have made a total loss claim) we will refund you for the premium that would have covered you after the cancellation date.
We will not refund any amount of $1 or less.
We may charge an early cancellation fee of $40.00 (GST inclusive).
If you have made a total loss claim, we will not refund you any premium.
Can I cancel my home insurance policy after making a claim?
Yes – you can cancel your Budget Direct home and/or contents policy at any time.
Can my policy be cancelled for non-payment?
Yes – if your fortnightly or monthly premium instalments are overdue by a month or more, we may cancel your policy.
If you don’t pay your premium when it’s due, we’ll send you a friendly reminder.
Note that if you’re temporarily short of funds, you can push back your payment date by up to 14 days by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your payment details.
Experiencing financial difficulty? Please call 1800 182 310 to discuss your options.
Can my policy be cancelled if I make a misrepresentation when answering the insurers questions?
Yes – We will ask you questions and your answers will help us decide whether to insure you, and on what terms. Each question we ask you is important.
You have a legal duty under the Insurance Contracts Act to take ‘reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation’ to us. This means you must answer all our questions fully, accurately, and honestly.
If you fail in your duty, where permitted by law, we may cancel your policy. Or we may reduce the amount we pay you if you make a claim. Or we may do both of those things.
If your failure is fraudulent, we may refuse to pay a claim. And we may treat the policy as if it never existed.
How will the cancellation of my policy be confirmed?
We’ll send you written confirmation of the cancellation via email or post, unless - when an instalment payment is overdue we will send you a missed payment notification, which informs you of the date we will cancel your policy if the instalment payment remains unpaid.
If an instalment payment is overdue by one month or more, we will cancel your policy automatically without notice.
What do I do if my home insurance is cancelled?
Regardless of whether you cancel your policy or we do (when permitted by law), if you intend to retain ownership of the home in question, you should consider getting it insured by another provider immediately.
You can get your search for another insurer underway by using the Insurance Council of Australia’s Find an Insurer website.
