Personal | Important Information

Prepared on 23 March 2021

Updated on 1 October 2024

1. Overview

The Mission Saver Student Account (MSSA) is a convenient way for you to accumulate savings while earning a competitive interest rate. The MSSA earns a bonus interest rate for each month where at least one contribution is made with no withdrawals. Eligibility criteria apply to open a MSSA. The MSSA requires you to give us a minimum of 31 days’ notice to access withdrawals of money from the account. A Member Acknowledgement form covering terms and conditions and mandated disclosures is required to be signed by all account holders before the MSSA can be opened.

2. Terms and Conditions

How your investment works:

A MSSA is a debenture are issued by the Roman Catholic Trusts Corporation for the Diocese of Melbourne ABN 52 768 159 282 for the CDF Community Fund ABN 94 380 397 118.

The balance held in your MSSA, comprised of the principal sum and interest earned, is a debt owed to you, and is backed by the assets of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Who can invest in the Mission Saver Student Account?

The MSSA is designed for students under the age of 18.

A parent or legal guardian is required to be nominated as an account holder where an account is opened on behalf of a student under the age of 12 years.

If you are no longer eligible for a MSSA, that is, you are over the age of 18, you must notify us as soon as practicable of cessation of your eligibility, and to discuss other products that may be available to you.

What is the minimum initial investment?

The minimum initial investment required to open a MSSA is $1.00.

All investments must be made in Australian Dollars.

How to make an investment:

You have the following option to arrange for payments into your MSSA:

• A singular or recurring direct debit from your bank account with an Authorised Deposit Taking Institution (ADI) to your MSSA, which can be applied for during the account application process.
• Establish a singular or recurring Direct Debit with us after your account has been opened by completing the Direct Debit Credit Request form found under Member Forms. 
• Rolling over your funds held with a Development Fund of the Catholic Church.

The name of the ADI account must reflect the name of the student or parent/guardian recorded on your MSSA.

Additional requirement for investing in a Mission Saver Student Account – Member Acknowledgement:

Any person investing in a MSSA must first sign a Member Acknowledgement Form before we can open the MSSA. 

How long will it take for my money to be invested?

Requests for investments into your MSSA received by us before 11.00am on any business day is generally processed on that day. While we make every effort to ensure timely processing, we cannot guarantee same-day completion.

If your request is unable to be processed (for example if you have provided us with insufficient or incorrect details) the requests will be processed as soon as reasonably practical after we receive the required information.

We reserve the right to refuse your request to invest in a MSSA and are not required to disclose why your application was refused.

CDF Community Fund Online:

You can manage your MSSA through the CDF Community Fund Online portal by completing the Member Online Access Request.

All electronic withdrawals must be linked to an account with an ADI. The name of the ADI account must reflect the name of the student or parent/guardian recorded on your MSSA.

How to withdraw your money from your Mission Saver Student Account?

You must provide at least 31 days’ notice to us if you wish to withdraw any money held in your MSSA. This means the withdrawal can be processed no earlier than the 32nd day after your redemption request is received.

You can withdraw your investment online via CDF Community Fund Online subject to the 31-day notice requirement by following the Notice of Withdrawal (NOW) process.

Financial Hardship:

The requirement to give us at least 31 days’ notice for the 31 Day Mission Saver Account does not apply where the request is to alleviate financial hardship that you are suffering. If you are suffering financial hardship, please contact us or view our Hardship Policy for further information.

Interest:

Interest rates are published on our website. The interest payable on your MSSA is a variable interest rate and is subject to change.

Accounts held by students up until the age of 18 years will be eligible for a bonus interest rate payable on top of the base interest rate. The bonus rate is payable each month where an investment of at least $1 or more is made, and no withdrawals are made during the month.

Interest on the MSSA is calculated daily at the daily percentage rate based on the balance in the MSSA at the end of each day. The ‘daily percentage rate’ is the annual interest rate divided by 365. Interest is calculated daily and credited monthly to the MSSA.

What about fees and charges?

We do not charge any fees for your investment in the MSSA unless the account has been classified as dormant. Refer to the Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Monies Policy under Important Information for further information.

Change in your details:

You must promptly notify us if you change your name, address, or contact details. This enables CDF to continue to contact you in relation to your investment.

Changes to Terms and Conditions within this Information Statement:

From time to time, we may change terms and conditions associated to the MSSA. Changes to terms and conditions are published on our website.

3. How to apply for a Mission Saver Student Account

You may apply to open a MSSA by completing our online application form available on our website.
 
You are required to provide satisfactory identification (ID) information for verification purposes through the GreenID service provided by GBG Plc.

Your application cannot be processed until all information and identification requirements are met.

4. Contact Us

We are pleased to answer any questions that you may have about our Mission Saver Student Account.

Please feel free to contact us at:

CDF Community Fund, Melbourne Office:
St Patrick’s Centre, 486 Albert Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002
Mail: PO Box 174, East Melbourne VIC 8002
Phone: (03) 9926 2200
Phone (toll free): 1800 134 135
Email: csg@melbcdf.org.au

5. Privacy Policy

We understand how important it is to protect your personal information. We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes indicated in our policy, where we have your consent to do so or as otherwise required or authorised by law.

Any personal or sensitive information provided by you will be treated appropriately to ensure it is protected. Personal information may include your name, date of birth, driver’s licence number, marital status, phone number, email address, mailing or residential address, nationality, employment history, income, and/or assets and liabilities.

It is important that any information we hold about you is accurate and up to date.

We collect personal information from you for various reasons, including to identify, contact or provide services to you. 

We may also use your personal information to provide you with information about special offers, changes to our organisation, or new services offered by us or a company with which we are associated. By providing us with your personal information, you consent to us using your information to contact you on an ongoing basis for this purpose. If you do not wish to receive marketing information, you can contact our Client Services team via email at csg@melbcdf.org.au or unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of the communication.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties who provide services to us, such as IT service providers, mail houses, lawyers, accountants and auditors.

We may also be required, by law, to disclose your personal information in response to a request from a Court, Tribunal, law enforcement agency, a subpoena, or the Australian Taxation Office.

Your information is stored in a secure environment. When your information is no longer needed, it will be destroyed or permanently de-identified. We will take reasonable steps to protect information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. We will notify you if your personal information is accessed or released without proper authorisation and the breach is likely to result in serious harm.

Additional information on our Privacy Policy can be found here.

6. Complaints

We are committed to resolving any complaints you may have. Please raise any complaints by contacting:

Complaints Officer
Phone: (03) 9926 2200
Phone (toll free):1800 134 135
Email: csg@melbcdf.org.au
Mail: PO Box 174, East Melbourne VIC 8002

Our complaints officer will deal with your complaint in an efficient and timely manner. Our complaints officer will provide you with information about how your complaint will be processed and the expected time frame for resolving the complaint.

If an issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to consumers.

Website: www.afca.org.au
Email: info@afca.org.au
Telephone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
In writing to: Australian Financial Complaints Authority GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001

7. Important information

CDPF Limited, a company established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has indemnified the CDF Community Fund ABN 94 380 397 118 (the Fund) against any liability arising out of a claim by investors in the Fund. In practice, this means your investment is backed by the assets of Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The Fund is required by law to make the following disclosure:

Investment in the Fund is only intended to attract investors whose primary purpose for making their investment is to support the charitable purposes of the Fund. Investor’s funds will be used to generate a return to the Fund that will be applied to further the charitable works of the Catholic Church. The Fund is not prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority nor has it been examined or approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). An investor in the Fund will not receive the benefit of the financial claims scheme or the depositor protection provisions in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth). The investments that the Fund offers are not subject to the usual protections for investors under the Corporations Act (Cth) or regulation by ASIC. Investors may be unable to get some or all of their money back when the investor expects or at all and investments in the Fund are not comparable to investments with banks, finance companies or fund managers. The Fund’s identification statement may be viewed at https://www.catholicdevelopmentfund.org.au/communityfund/important-information  or by contacting the Fund. The Fund does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence. The Fund has entered into an intermediary authorisation with CDFCF AFSL Limited ABN 49 622 976 747, AFSL No. 504202 to issue and deal in debentures.

Terms and conditions for your investment are contained in this Information Statement.

Updates to this Information Statement:

We reserve the right to change this Information Statement. We will notify you of these changes by publishing the change on our website.

* This is not an ‘offer information statement’ as defined in section 715 of the Corporations Act.