Our Guard Mutual Limited ACN 652 207 808 entity is a Company Limited by Guarantee. It is owned by its members and its board is solely focused on operating Our Guard for the benefit of members. This is described in its constitution. The board comprises non-executive independent directors, member representative directors and manager representative directors. Read more about the board here on the About Us page.
Please contact our team directly, or request your broker to, and provide your previous renewal, claims history and schedule.
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Insurance policies attract government charges for GST, Stamp duty and (in some states) emergency services levies. Risk protection contributions attract GST but not stamp duty or emergency services levies.
Our Guard aims to provide sharp pricing up front which is risk responsive - so you may see a further saving on your contribution but this will vary.
In the longer term, any surplus profits made by Our Guard are retained for the benefit of members. This means that a favourable claims experience for the Our Guard community could lead to reduced future prices and expanded coverage.
You automatically become a member when you apply for a risk protection product, you meet our board criteria, we offer you cover and you pay your contribution.
Our Guard is not an APRA Insurer. We are a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF). DMFs offer a ‘discretionary cover’, that is, an insurance-like product that may involve an obligation on the DMF to entertain a claim. However, it gives the DMF's board a discretion as to whether it will pay the claim.
Yes. Our Guard will offer a quote at no cost to you. We may require your co-operation in providing additional information to allow us to give you the best possible price.
Mutual Capital Instruments were introduced to the Corporations Act (2001) in 2019. They allow an MCI mutual to issue shares to complement their capital base.
MCIs and MCI Holders' rights are outlined in the company constitution.
MCI holders may receive a return on their investment in the form of dividends paid out of the profits of Our Guard, at the discretion of the board.
On redemption or windup, MCI holders do not receive more than the principal amount invested. Any surplus funds belong to members, in accordance with the constitution.
A discretionary mutual is a structure that offers discretionary risk protection to its members. Discretionary protection is similar to insurance because both offer protection against a certain event or risk.
However, the key difference is:
- Under an insurance policy, the protected person (the insured) has the contractual right to have their claim paid (if the claim meets all the policy terms and conditions);
- Under a discretionary risk product, the protected person has the right to have their claim considered and for a decision to be made about paying the claim (the exercise of discretion).
Whereas you may pay a premium for your insurance, you make a contribution (including GST) to the Our Guard Mutual for risk protection product.
Where the board resolves that the mutual has surplus capital, it may use some of those funds to reduce member contributions. This is done by way of a contribution rebate which sees the your next contribution reduced by the amount of the rebate.
Your rebate is subject to the surplus distribution algorithm which is driven, amongst other things, by member tenure (longer = better), size of contribution (higher = better), claim experience (less = better) and products held (more = better).
All claims are subject to a Deductible which is displayed on your Schedule of Protection.
At the time of the claim, the amount determined as the Loss under the Protection will be compared to the Deductible.
If the Loss does not exceed the Deductible, your claim will not be paid. If the Loss does exceed the Deductible, the amount for payment will be considered after subtracting the Deductible amount from the Loss.
The Deductible is included in the Limit(s) of Protection.
We are committed to ensuring our products and services meet your expectations and we value feedback on how we are performing. Our customer care team is the first point of contact and will aim to resolve your complaint.
We will attempt to respond to your complaint as quickly as possible from the date we receive your complaint.
If you wish to dispute the decision about a claim made by Our Guard Mutual, please contact us in the first instance by making a written submission to the Mutual and asking the Board to reconsider their decision.
If you are not satisfied with our decision or if your complaint remains unresolved, you may refer the matter to our Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) team.
Disputes processed by the IDR team will be presented to a Review Committee. The review will be guided by the principles of good faith, equity and merit.
If you are still unhappy with the outcome, you can choose to have the matter resolved externally. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint or we do not resolve your complaint within 30 calendar days of the date on which we first received your complaint, you can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
This independent body provides its service free of charge and we will abide by the outcome. The decision is not binding on you. AFCA is an external complaints resolution scheme approved by ASIC to provide free advice and assistance to consumers to help them in resolving complaints relating to members of the financial services industry. Information about AFCA, and the types of disputes that it can consider, can be found at its website.
Whilst Our Guard is not supervised by APRA, the board follows many of the principles outlined by APRA in the GPS and CPS prudential standards. These include, but are not limited to; risk management practices, capital calculations, (re)insurance requirements and information security.
The mutual's balance sheet is protected by highly rated Insurers (which acts like reinsurance bought by insurance companies). These policies protect the mutual for cases where there is an extraordinarily large claim or a number of claims that arise from the same event.
This means that, in addition to the capital held by the mutual, it has greater capacity to withstand adverse claims experience of the community.
The board of Our Guard requires actuarial assessment of amounts outstanding on past claims to ensure that there are adequate provisions for future payments relating to those claims.
The board also considers prospective analysis of the financial condition of the mutual to inform the level of contributions required, with the intention being that expected claims and operating expenses would be adequately covered by those contributions.
Our Guard's capital base is a combination of Mutual Capital Instrument (MCI) shares and retained earnings from member contributions.
MCIs can be funded from members, as well as investors that are not members, of Our Guard. In future, additional MCIs may be issued to support the growth of Our Guard.
Eventually, it is expected that all MCIs will be redeemed and Our Guard will be entirely funded by retained earnings from member activities.
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Terms of UseFinancial Services GuideGENERAL ADVICE WARNING
Our Guard Mutual Limited ('Mutual') is managed by Picnic Services Pty Ltd ACN 638 145 418 ('Manager') an Authorised Representative (AR No: 1300248) of Picnic Licensing Pty Ltd (AFSL No: 532540). Any advice provided about any products is of a general nature only.It does not take into account your personal circumstances. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Service Guide to see if these products are right for you.
