Kiwisaver Problems: keep your eye on your provider.
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, Cost of living, General Budgeting, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver
I always thought putting the Inland Revenue in charge of Kiwisaver was a daft idea. Seems I may have had a point. The IRD passes on your information to one of the default providers, and then thats the end of what they care about. It seems that a lot of the default Kiwisaver providers (these are the ones you are automatically enrolled with if you don’t make your own choice), have got the wrong information, and cant get in contact with the people whose funds they are running.
It worries me that there appears to be an awful lot of people who are completely unaware that they have a Kiwisaver fund. There are 200,000 people who cannot be contacted by their fund managers.
The problem means people may not receive the letter telling them who their KiwiSaver provider is or the annual statement on their Kiwisaver balance and annual report explaining the returns of their fund.
McAllister [from ASB Group Investments - the larges Default provider] said some people could be in KiwiSaver for more than a year and still not know because it was new and they did not know what to expect from their provider or Inland Revenue.
“It appears it’s an IRD problem. It raises questions about how accurate IRD’s information is.
You need to be aware about Kiwisaver. You are automatically enrolled into a fund, whether you like it or not, and have to opt out if like us you think Kiwisaver is crap.
Make sure you understand what is at stake here – as immigrants you will face this the minute you start a job,a dn you have 2 weeks to make up your mind about staying in Kiwisaver forever or opting out. Do your homework.
More information on Kiwisaver can be found in Avalon’s Guide: 13 things you need to know, and 17 things you really need to know!
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One Comment on Kiwisaver Problems: keep your eye on your provider.
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Anil Miranda on
Sat, 1st May 2010 9:03 pm
ArGGGG Kiwisaver. and Tower investments making me pull my hair out. Here is the worst Kiwi saver provider ever ( OK so I havent experienced any other) . pathetic service and driving me bonkers. 4 complaints about the same issue in the last 9 months and apologies but no action to fix the problem. Arggg. Anbody have experience with kiwi save provideers and making changes to account balances going smoothly. Please let me know your feed back.
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