The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has found funeral insurance provider Youpla Pty Ltd misled Indigenous policyholders in two separate cases.

According the AFCA, ACBF Funeral Plans Pty Ltd, owned by Youpla, misrepresented themselves as an Aboriginal-owned, not-for-profit community organisation.

The AFCA also found that ACBF did not ensure consumers accurately understood that insurance premiums would increase with age or would likely exceed the benefit payable.

The rulings concern a case from the Financial Rights Legal Centre and another from the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS).

Youpla CEO Bryn Jones supplied NIT with a comment regarding the findings.

"Youpla have implemented the 2014 ASIC recommendations and have applied a listen and learn approach over the past three years and will continue to listen to our members and the community in implementing any necessary changes in consultation with expert advice."

Dunghutti solicitor Mark Holden from the Financial Rights Legal Centre described the findings as "liberating".

"Whenever you hear the word Aboriginal Employment Strategy or Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Legal Services—those all give off the insinuation that it is an Aboriginal-owned organisation," Holden said.

"It is made for the benefit of the community when in actual fact, in this case, it was owned by white people, who were not part of that community, when the contracts were entered into."

VALS senior legal practitioner Siobhan Doyle said a lot of community members use community-controlled services, especially in regional areas, as they trust those services.

"I think ACBF bought into that trust," Doyle said.

"It's validation for our clients that you can't say you're one thing and be a complete other thing."

Doyle noted the concerns around the miscommunication of policy.

"The plan rules for different products are very confusing for even a lawyer," she said.

"It wasn't explained in plain English and I think what people thought they were getting was a fund—they'd pay money in and they'd get money back. That's not what the rules say but it's what people think."

Financial Rights Legal Centre's Aboriginal Service Coordinator, Wiradjuri woman Amanda Cameron, said the concerns around Sorry Business leave people vulnerable to marketing tactics.

"Sorry Business is so important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and sometimes they can be so vulnerable to these products because a funeral can cost between $5,000 to $20,000," she said.

"When they are presented with this, they are often done so with high pressure sales or door-to-door marketing. It is not a good product."

There is a level of shame that comes with feeling as though you've been duped. Financial Rights Legal Centre and VALS are encouraging community to reach out for help.

"When it comes to funeral insurance generally, there can be a bit of shame in realising you may have been signed up to a gammin product," Holden said.

"You sign up to the product because you want to look after yourself and your family and you feel like you've been taken on a ride.

"The one way we help work through that, is that we have a private and confidential service ... and we let them know they aren't the only person affected by this."

Doyle said there are many options for people who feel they were misled.

"There are protections in place to protect consumers ... I encourage people to contact [their] local community legal centre," Doyle said.

These findings follow the Hayne Royal Commission which exposed the systemic failures of funeral insurance providers in meeting community standards.

"The Royal Commission has shown that this has resulted in many firms designing business models around the economic exploitation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," Doyle said.

"The findings of these decision evidence that many operators continue to mislead or behave deceptively in their engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."

The Financial Rights Legal Centre has seven alternate cases pending determination against companies within the Youpla group. VALS intends to file more complaints in the near future.

By Rachael Knowles