This was determined by the Court of Appeal of The Hague in a class action initiated in 2013 by the Woekerpolis.nl association, and implemented by the ConsumerClaim Foundation.

Incorrectly withholding costs

The case revolves around investment insurance policies sold by NN since the early 1990s. The judge has now ruled that the insurer wrongly withheld costs when obtaining the policies. The so-called initial costs, such as the commission of the broker with whom the client insured. But also collection and administration costs, which are collected over the entire semester.

All of these costs were not communicated to the client in advance, and should have been. “In short: Nationale-Nederlanden did not fulfill its duty of care,” says Ab Filips, president of the association Woekerpolis.nl.

The ruling on appeal will likely mean good news for victims who have joined this association or ConsumerClaim. This means 4 to 5 percent of policyholders; Or between 28,000 and 35,000 policyholders.

Compensation is calculated on a case-by-case basis

As a result of this ruling, Nationale-Nederlanden may have to compensate them for the costs that were wrongly withheld, in addition to statutory interest. Depending on your deposit and duration, this amount may have increased significantly. The court has not yet issued a final ruling in the case.

The insurance company has already announced that it will appeal against the court ruling. According to the Nationale-Nederlanden, the court’s conclusions differ from previous important rulings. NN also believes that the court misinterpreted the law and social views that were applicable at the time of the sale of the unit-related insurance policies.

The issue of usury policy has been a struggle for years:

Flipse expects an average of €15,000 will have to be paid per policy if the court ruling stands, although this varies depending on the file. Before victims get their money, the amount of compensation they are entitled to must be calculated on a case-by-case basis.

This is – again – a long process that can take an entire year. In addition, Nationale-Nederlanden can also contact Woekerpolis.nl and ConsumerClaim to reach a settlement.

Evidence otherwise

Customers who have (had) an extortionist policy from the Nationale-Nederlanden can still inform the claims organizations to benefit from the collective action. When the insurance company actually pays compensation, the victims receive 90 percent of this amount. The remaining 10 percent is for consumer claims.

The Court of Appeal has not yet decided on the claimant organizations’ accusation that Nationale-Nederlanden engaged in “flipping” (carrying out unnecessary transactions in order to impose additional costs on the client). The insurance company can still provide evidence to the contrary.

The ruling could also have serious consequences for proceedings that are still ongoing against other insurers, such as Achmea, ASR and Real.