8 Key Rights of Financial Consumers: Are You Aware?

In September 2024, the General Administration of Financial Regulation, the People's Bank of China, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, focusing on the annual theme of "Safeguarding Rights and Preventing Risks," jointly launched the "Financial Education and Publicity Month" campaign.

China Life Insurance Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "China Life Insurance Company") actively responded to the call and organized a series of financial knowledge popularization activities with a wide coverage and strong pertinence, helping the public to understand financial knowledge, recognize financial risks, enhance awareness of rights, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers.

Today, let's understand the "eight rights" of financial consumers.

Property Safety Right - "There are a thousand rules for financial consumption, and property safety is the most important.

Ultra-high returns are not credible, and careful consideration is essential."

Financial institutions should legally protect the property safety of financial consumers in the process of purchasing financial products and receiving financial services.

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Financial institutions should operate prudently, take strict internal control measures and scientific technical monitoring means, strictly distinguish between their own assets and customer assets, and must not misappropriate or occupy customer funds.

Case: Grandma Qian is an old customer of the insurance company.

One day, she rushed to the insurance company's counter, saying that her family urgently needed money and wanted to cancel all policies.

The clerk, Xiao Zheng, informed her that there would be a loss from canceling the policy and took the initiative to ask Grandma Qian the reason for canceling the policy.

Grandma Qian said that she attended a financial management lecture held by a financial management company today and wanted to use the money from canceling the policy to buy the company's newly launched high-yield financial products.

After understanding the situation, Xiao Zheng found it suspicious, popularized the knowledge of preventing financial risks to Grandma Qian, and suggested that she carefully consider and keep the policy.

After going home, Grandma Qian thought carefully and decided not to cancel the policy.

The timely reminder from clerk Xiao Zheng protected Grandma Qian's property safety right.

Right to Know - "Don't believe in false propaganda, and risk warnings should be given as soon as possible.

Carefully read the product terms, and exaggerated returns are unacceptable."

Financial institutions should disclose information that may affect the decision-making of financial consumers in a timely, truthful, accurate, and comprehensive manner in a language that is easy to understand, fully indicate risks, and must not release fraudulent information that exaggerates product returns and conceals product risks, and must not make false or misleading propaganda.

Case: Uncle Chen wants to buy insurance, but he is unfamiliar with insurance professional terms and is worried about buying products that do not meet his own needs.

The salesperson patiently explained to Uncle Chen the insurance liability, exemption of liability, payment period, insurance period, and other information, and reminded Uncle Chen to pay attention to the rights during the hesitation period, the loss of canceling the policy, the uncertainty of dividends, and other risks, fully protecting Uncle Chen's right to know.

Right to Independent Choice - "Tied sales are unacceptable, and forced sales are not wanted.

Independent choice is a must, and awareness of rights protection should be remembered."

Financial institutions should fully respect the wishes of financial consumers within the scope allowed by laws, regulations, and regulatory provisions, and allow consumers to independently choose and decide whether to purchase financial products or accept financial services.

They must not force sales, must not sell against the wishes of financial consumers, must not attach other unreasonable conditions, and must not use misleading means to induce financial consumers to purchase other products.

Case: Ms. Li is preparing to buy car insurance.

She came to an insurance company, and the staff introduced some additional services to her while introducing the insurance products, such as roadside assistance cards, vehicle maintenance packages, etc.

Ms. Li clearly stated that she only needs car insurance and is not interested in these additional services for the time being.

The staff respected Ms. Li's wishes and handled the car insurance for Ms. Li alone.

In this case, Ms. Li's right to independent choice was protected.

Financial consumers have the right to choose financial products and services according to their own needs and wishes, and any tied sales behavior, consumers have the right to refuse.

Fair Trading Right - "Read the terms carefully to prevent traps, and rights and obligations should be clear.

Rational choice brings peace of mind, and fair trading should be remembered."

Financial consumers have the right to fair and equal transactions when dealing with business at banking and insurance institutions.

Financial institutions must not set transaction conditions that violate the principle of fairness, must not impose additional responsibilities on financial consumers, restrict or exclude the legal rights of financial consumers, or limit the legal remedies available to financial consumers in the standard contracts, and must not reduce or exempt the civil liability that the institution should bear for damaging the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers.

Case: In 2020, Aunt Chen insured a critical illness insurance policy with an insurance company.

Because she had been hospitalized for a lung disease before, Aunt Chen hesitated whether to truthfully disclose her health condition when insuring.

Later, Aunt Chen believed that one should be honest, chose to truthfully inform the insurance company of her health condition, and provided past medical history materials.

The insurance company agreed to accept the insurance after reviewing the materials and agreed to accept the insurance with additional fees.

In 2023, Aunt Chen felt unwell, went to the hospital for examination, and was diagnosed with cancer.

The insurance company, after investigation, believed that it met the insurance liability and paid the critical illness claim to Aunt Chen.

In this story, Aunt Chen followed the principle of honesty and fulfilled the obligation to truthfully disclose; the insurance company insured according to the principle of fairness and actively fulfilled the obligation to pay the insurance money, fully protecting the consumer's right to fair trading.

Right to Seek Compensation According to Law - "Protect your own rights and interests, and seek compensation according to law for higher efficiency.

Mediation and arbitration have multiple channels, and rational rights protection is the right way."

Financial institutions should effectively fulfill the main responsibility of handling complaints from financial consumers, establish a multi-level complaint handling mechanism within the institution, improve the complaint handling procedures, establish a complaint handling inquiry system, improve the quality and efficiency of handling complaints from financial consumers, and accept social supervision.

Case: Aunt Wang insured a critical illness insurance policy with an insurance company in 2023.

Recently, she was hospitalized for a critical illness and was in a tight financial situation for medical expenses.

Aunt Wang remembered that she had bought insurance and reported to the insurance company for a claim.

The insurance company, after receiving the report, found that another insurance policy insured by Aunt Wang many years ago also belonged to the insurance liability that could be claimed.

So, the insurance company contacted Aunt Wang to prepare the claim materials and quickly reviewed and completed the payment, fully protecting Aunt Wang's right to seek compensation according to law.

Right to Education - "Financial education is indispensable, and consumer protection knowledge cannot be forgotten.

Strong risk prevention awareness cannot be deceived by illegal finance."

Financial institutions should further strengthen the education of financial consumers, actively organize or participate in financial knowledge popularization activities, carry out extensive and continuous daily financial consumer education, help financial consumers improve their understanding of financial products and services and self-protection ability, and improve the financial literacy and honesty and trustworthiness awareness of financial consumers.

Case: Aunt Wang recently received a strange phone call, and the other party claimed to be a staff member of a certain insurance company, who could give Aunt Wang a health insurance with a million yuan coverage for free.

The handling method is also very simple, as long as Aunt Wang provides a bank account under her name and a text verification code, it can be handled immediately.

Aunt Wang immediately hung up the phone and immediately called the official customer service phone of the insurance company to verify whether the situation is true.

After learning that it was a fraudulent call, Aunt Wang immediately put the strange number into the blacklist.

It turned out that Aunt Wang had learned financial consumer rights protection knowledge when participating in the financial consumer rights protection activities carried out by the insurance company, and the risk tips such as "be vigilant of strange calls" and "protect personal information" had been deeply engraved in Aunt Wang's mind.

Right to Respect - "Differential treatment is unacceptable, and full respect is essential.

Special groups need care, and personalized services warm people's hearts."

Financial institutions should respect the personal dignity and national customs of financial consumers and must not discriminate and treat differently due to differences in gender, age, race, ethnicity, or nationality of financial consumers.

Case: The insurance company staff found that Aunt Liao's insurance had already expired, but she had not received the maturity money.

The service personnel took the initiative to call the contact number left by Aunt Liao to remind her to receive the maturity money.

Unexpectedly, the person who answered the phone was Aunt Liao's daughter, Ms. Wang.

Ms. Wang said that Aunt Liao had a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and was bedridden, needing to be taken care of by family members in turns.

Knowing that there is still a maturity money to be received, Ms. Wang is very happy, but Aunt Liao is unable to travel normally and is very worried about how to receive the maturity money.

In response to Aunt Liao's special situation, the insurance company service personnel took the initiative to go to Aunt Liao's home to provide insurance services, allowing Aunt Liao to receive the maturity money smoothly and feel the warm service of being respected.

Right to Information Security - "Personal information is not disclosed, and information security is well protected.

Safety awareness should be remembered, and vigilance should be maintained at all times."

Financial institutions should take effective measures to strengthen the management of third-party cooperative institutions, clarify the rights and obligations of both parties, strictly control the risk of information leakage of financial consumers, and protect the information security of financial consumers.

Case: Mr. Li came to the insurance company counter to handle business and provided the ID number of the insurance company's customer, Aunt Zhang, claiming to be a relative of Aunt Zhang, and asked the clerk to help inquire about all the insurance policies and payment situations under Aunt Zhang's name.

The clerk, based on the consideration of information security, contacted Aunt Zhang herself and confirmed that Aunt Zhang did not authorize Mr. Li to inquire about her insurance policy information, so he refused Mr. Li's inquiry request, protecting Aunt Zhang's right to information security.

The above is the "eight rights" of financial consumers.

Here, China Life Insurance Company reminds financial consumers to take the initiative to learn financial knowledge, enhance awareness of rights, and actively protect their legitimate rights and interests.