Gold Coast man calls for health star ratings for banks after Royal Commission report released

A Gold Coast man has launched a petition asking the Federal Government to introduce a system that makes it easier to understand financial products.

A GOLD Coast man wants the Federal Government to introduce a system that makes it easier to understand financial products.

On the heels of the Royal Commission into Banking, Jason Boudville, 35, from Labrador is petitioning the Morrison Government to introduce a star-rating system to compare banking products, including loans and superannuation.

While comparison tools already exist for some banking products they are not government-run and are less accountable, he says.

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Jason Boudville, wife Bec and baby Florence.

Mr Boudville said often people just “settle” for a credit card, home loan or superannuation account because comparing them becomes too hard.

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“Unless you’re really into that stuff people just settle for the major four banks or where their family bank and the banks profit from that — for lack of a better term — ignorance of the broader population,” he said.

Jason Boudville is petitioning the Federal Government to create a star rating system for banks, like the health star ratings. Picture Glenn Hampson

“People just get apathetic, we’re all time-poor, we want to be able to easily access that content and make a decision.”

Mr Boudville said he felt “rushed” to make a decision on his own home loan recently after he and his wife found their dream home and needed to secure the money quickly.

“It was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make, and then you’re at the whim of the bank for another 30 years,” he said.

His push for change led him to contact every state and federal MP across Queensland and New South Wales looking for support, with limited success.

Mr Boudville believed a system like the current health star system for food would be quite simple to introduce. Picture Glenn Hampson

Mr Boudville believed a system like the current health star system for food would be quite simple to introduce.

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“In my work doing digital communications for Gold Coast Health part of my job is to take complex systems and make them easy to understand,” he said.

“We’ve done it successfully in health, we’ve done it somewhat successfully with mobile phone contracts, we can do it with financials as well.

“We know as a result of the Royal Commission there’s a lot that the banks are getting away with that the community just wouldn’t accept and they shouldn’t accept.”

Mr Boudville hopes the Australian Government can introduce a comparison system within the next five years, and believes support from the public is key to making it happen.

The petition on the parliament of Australia website will close on February 14 before being presented to officials later this month.

“The more signatures we get on the petition, the more attention the Government will have to give it,” he said.