What is a ‘super cash rip-off’?

When you hand over your wages to a superannuation fund, there are many different ways that they can invest it. The safest and most conservative approach is cash. With a cash investment, your money is not invested in the market; it's just invested in a bank account where it collects interest.

When your super fund invests your money in cash, it doesn't have to do anything. It just takes your money and puts it in a bank. If your super fund is owned by a big bank, they will usually put your money into that parent bank. However, the fund has a legal duty to get you the best possible interest rate.

What funds like Colonial First State have been doing is dumping super with a parent bank, such as the Commonwealth Bank, despite it not offering the best returns for members. The interest rate from the parent bank has in some cases been as low as 1.25% per year.

This rate is ludicrously low. Standard bank interest rates should be around 2.0 to 2.5 per cent. That's what most banks offer to customers for term deposits. We are determined to hold bank-owned super funds to account for failing to obtain the best possible interest rate for cash investments - instead, opting for the one on offer from a parent bank.

Are you paying too much in fees?

Super funds charge a multitude of fees in connection with administration and management of the investments.

The Productivity Commission has shown that high fees generally generate lower net returns. That’s why the Get Your Super Campaign is focused on uncompetitive fees charged by retail and bank-owned super funds.

The Get Your Super Back Campaign will allege that these super funds were charging fees much higher than they could have been charging.