Be ready to prove who you are
Posted: August 01, 2008
Superannuation funds will check your identity before paying benefits.
Identity fraud is reported to be one of the fastest growing crimes. Someone poses as you and gets credit in your name or gets their hands on your money. It is often very hard for the victim to prove they did not authorise the transactions.
The media frequently publish tips about protecting your identity such as keeping bank account, credit card and driver’s licence details private, remembering a PIN rather than writing it down and changing passwords and PINs often.
Financial institutions are also beefing up their procedures to protect their customers. If you have tried to phone a banking call centre or use internet banking you will find the systems now much more careful about verifying your identity.
Most of us now know that when opening a bank account, we will be asked to prove our identity using the ‘100 point’ test. Using documents such as a passport or driver’s licence, we can easily qualify. Other documents like utility bills or a tax notice go towards the 100 point ‘score’.
Last year, superannuation funds worked with Government regulators to devise a better way for members to transfer or roll over money between funds. From 1 July 2007, most funds adopted these new procedures including identity checks when a member requests a withdrawal, a rollover or lump sum payment or starts an income stream.
Unlike banks, superannuation funds do not check your identity when you join the fund because it would be very difficult to manage with members starting new jobs and leaving old ones. Superannuation funds also do not have a network of branch offices like banks and therefore rely on communication with members by phone, internet and letters.
As you will not request money from your super fund very often it makes sense to ask for proof of identity at the point of withdrawal. When you fill in a payment request, the fund will ask for a certified copy of documents such as your driver’s licence, passport, birth certificate, Australian citizenship certificate or a Centrelink pension card. It is important to get the copy certified as a true copy by your Financial Adviser, a Justice of the Peace, police officer, solicitor or other authorised person.
The rules may seem a nuisance but they are there to protect your money. Last year a scam in Victoria resulted in $700,000 being paid out to a fraudster – now you wouldn’t want that to happen to you.