Cash in SMSF with corporate trustee

[awg]

Following a frustrating day, this thread is in similar vein to "where is your cash at"...but regarding SMSF that have corporate trustees.

I had my online cash component with ANZ, as I am mandated to settle trades via their cash account for my SMSF audit, and they advertised a 4.25% rate, so I rang to upgrade,(from 3.75%), only to be told that they would not do it if there is a Pty Ltd in the title.

For those that dont know, corporate trustees are often set up using "special purpose" companies whose sole purpose is to act as Super trustees ( it makes adding members, and other alterations, easier).

After phoning several financial institutions, I received a similar response
(not before being told the wrong info numerous times)

Eventually I settled on St George, who will pay 4.5% online

Also found out that to set up a new super account, they must copy EVERY page of the trust deed, not just the Schedule.

This means 66 pages, instead of 3..and as they have to be "certified copies",
that rules out non-branch providers afaic
( I took my docs to St George and they copied them)

If anyone else has recently been thru this ordeal, I would be interested to hear what rates they are getting, and from whom,

especially at present, as I would have to go to a term 4 months or more to get a better rate, and why would I do that with rates on the rise?

As i am talking a substantial 6 figure sum, its something thats worth doing.

On a side note, I must say the ANZ reached a new low in customer service, whilst in the process of trying to get an answer, they kept transferring me from person to person.

The last guy I spoke to was not very helpful, so I asked if he would please transfer me to someone that understood superannuation matters, and he replied "No, he was going to terminate the call"

I hadnt even been rude to him

this followed a previous situation were they refused to discuss my accounts with me because they were held by a trustee...the trustee being (my own name) pty ltd...how stupid can a someone be over the phone

the last bastard will get a rocket up his ar$e hopefully, as I put in a email complaint, with his name, section and location, and withdrew the bulk of my account

 

[Julia]

Tony, my SMSF doesn't have the corporate aspect, but I've had similar difficulties in placing funds on term deposit.

Several banks would not accept a term deposit unless they had the '100 points'
qualification criteria from both trustees. One trustee is obviously myself, but the other was overseas at the time. I usually manage all documentation with a POA from her for me to act on her behalf in all matters relating to the SF.

But this was unacceptable to several banks. Eventually it was OK'd at Bank of Queensland, CBA and ANZ, the latter being where I hold all my accounts.

Both institutions felt obliged to copy the whole of the Trust Deed too!

There's no excuse for the rudeness from that ANZ employee. If you can summon up the energy, I'd be writing a letter to the CEO about that.
I've always found everyone I've dealt with at ANZ to be really good, but obviously it will vary from branch to branch.

Good luck.

 

[awg]

Thanks for the reply Julia, glad to see you are posting

Its not all roses for us SMSF operators, seems there is always some new regulatory or admin obstacle

there would be no problem if I had a trustee that was a natural person, but having a corporate trustee, means all but St George would not do it

One of the reasons I went the corporate route, is that it means the trustee can be effectively just one person, me, acting as sole director.

gets around the problem of two people having to sign everything, and other problems as well, how ironic

a change in regulations is why they need every page of deed now

I only got off crutches yesterday, but it was $1000+ in my pocket straight out, on a 0.75% differential, over 4 months on the "special offer", so I hobbled up there and went to the various branches.

The ANZ branch staff, have always been very pleasant, they said please keep your account with us, we can upgrade it...I had to say, good if that was correct, but better check your facts.

As to smart-ass-boy, yes I did fire of an email, and CC it to Esuperfund as well. That is an issue for me that I am partially tied to ANZ, as I have to settle trades thru their V2 account, so the audit is fully electronic, therefore cheap

I know how easy it can be to be rude over the phone, and if it was a $50 account, they probably should give him a "CSO of the week award"..the nob didnt even inquire my account size

will be interesting to see if they respond to my email..if they dont get back to me,( nothing yet), I jolly well might copy it to the CEO + a copy of my last post even

I had a good mentor for dealing with banks, (only wish I had his capital), he practically made them lick his boots

At least I can vent here on ASF, and give the evil-doers some bad publicity

 

[wjohng]

Hi Tony,
I have been running our SMSF for a few years and when we switched it to a new corporate structure went through a similar exercise.Not all funds/organisations required every page of the new trust deed but some did. As the Pty Ltd is only a trustee company acting on behalf of the super fund the main confusion that arrises for them seems to be with supplying ABN and TFN details which are for the fund not the Pty Ltd. In the end we settled on ING Direct for the cash management side having it linked to our regulat SMSF cheque account. I have been using this arrangement for over three years now and find it works fine with good documentation available as well as good electronic banking with several switches between the accounts each month. I also like the monthly interest income which is a better deal than using term deposits .
Cheers,
John G

 

[harks11]

I am in the process of changing over. First cheque arrived Friday. I went with a comsec account 5.25%. Front and Back page, not to hard. Once settled will set up an IB account for overseas shares but in no rush.