A young woman says she learned an important lesson after her pension fund stopped contributing for 20 years.
Kate Fowler from Melbourne told Daily Mail Australia her ordeal began in May this year when she was locked out of her Hostplus account.
When the 35-year-old called the pension fund’s helpline, the customer service representative said her account “didn’t exist.” She started having stomach problems.
Ms Fowler said her fear and panic turned to anger as she waited to speak to a supervisor.
Her inbox contained dozens of marketing emails from Hostplus and her pay slips showed weekly contributions made on her behalf. But there was even worse news.
‘She “They told me the account must have been closed and the money sent to the ATO,” Ms Fowler said.
‘I knew this wasn’t true because my MyGov account indicated that the money should go to Hostplus and I also had a payslip showing that my employer had contributed money in the past few weeks.
‘I wondered for a moment whether I was being scammed, but that seemed unlikely as I had called the official Hostplus phone number on the website.’
Kate Fowler (pictured) felt ‘quite anxious’ after being told her 20-year pension fund ‘didn’t exist’
Ms Fowler, who has worked at Hostplus since 2009, said on the phone she was so angry she ‘couldn’t even think straight’.
The supervisor told her that she had to provide all her details, including her account number, in writing via email so that they could confirm her identity.
Then she made a strange discovery.
“They sent me a password-protected document, but the password had to be my date of birth, so I couldn’t open it,” she continued.
“I thought that was the problem. They had me prove my identity with my date of birth, but they had one on file that didn’t match.”
It transpired that a second Hostplus account had been opened on behalf of Mrs Fowler, but her date of birth had been entered incorrectly. At some point the accounts were merged and the incorrect date of birth remained on file.
Fortunately, all the money was recovered.
The 35-year-old from Melbourne claimed she regularly receives marketing emails from Hostplus, but the customer service representative could not find anything under her name
“I was a bit surprised because I would have expected them to verify something like that against the ATO data,” she said.
Ms Fowler admitted that until recently she had always buried her head in the sand when it came to money.
She now always wants to know where her hard-earned dollars are going and how her retirement is going.
“The point of this long-winded story is that you shouldn’t get complacent about your pension. Review it thoroughly, at least when you file your taxes, but preferably quarterly,” she said.
‘Make sure you have access to it and can see your balance, check that your details are correct and up to date, and check that you are not being charged for insurance you don’t need.
“The most important thing is to consolidate all your funds into one so you get the maximum return. It’s really money that you want to have access to when you retire.
“We all need to be educated about where it’s going and how to manage it. Especially for younger women who feel like they want to take control of their finances.”
A spokesperson for Hostplus told Daily Mail Australia: “Hostplus has worked with the member and this matter has now been resolved. For privacy and security reasons, we are unable to comment further.”
According to UniSuper, women between the ages of 35 and 39 have an estimated $75,785 in retirement savings, while men have $95,937.
The amount varies depending on whether you work full-time or part-time.