Frequently Asked Questions       and answers

The CDF is wholly owned by the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Wollongong. Also, all deposits with the CDF are guaranteed and indemified by CDPF Limited, which is a company established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. The CDF nor the Trustees are prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Contributions to CDF do not obtain the benefit of the depositor protections of the Banking Act 1959. The CDF has been operating since 1961 and has over $140 million in deposits.
Click here to view the CDF's full Disclose Statement.

Members of the Catholic Community. The primary purpose for anyone investing with the CDF is that they wish to promote the educational, religious and charitable activities of the Catholic community. The considerations of profit are not of primary relevance in their investment decision.

We can set up a periodical payment from your CDF account to enable automatic payment of regular bills and payments. There is no cost to do this. For Direct Debit Online Access , download the application form.

Yes for Diocesan staff, download the Salary Deduction application form to apply.

Yes. Many CDF clients use their Money for Christmas account to save for holidays or other purposes. The one restriction is that you can only withdraw from the account between December 1 and January 31.

The CDF operates with the same privacy principles as other financial institutions - account details and balances are treated with the utmost confidence. Other than CDF staff, no-one - schools, parish priests, members of the CDF Board, or anybody else - has access to any account information whatsoever.

Because the CDF exists to serve the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong and the schools and parishes within, every deposit helps the CDF provide financial services to schools and parishes in the form of low interest loans, fee-free deposit and cheque accounts, sponsorships and an annual grant to the Diocese. The Incentive Plus account is a great way of bumping up this contribution as there are higher rates offered.

Your deposit with the CDF always remains yours. The CDF just ‘borrows’ it from you in the form of your deposit account. The CDF has at-call accounts as well as fixed term deposits to give you options to suit your needs.

One of the services the CDF provides to Diocesan schools and parents is direct debiting of school fees. School fees can be debited from most bank or credit union accounts weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly to suit your pay cycle.

We offer competitive Interest Rates for each of our client groups: Interest Rates for Individuals , Interest Rates for Employees , Interest Rates for Parish, School, P & F, Church Organisations . These are available on this website and linked in the relevant areas.

You can find information on opening an account within the relevant product information pages on this site. If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact Us.

By using CDF Online you can view balances and past transactions, and transfer funds between CDF accounts or transfer to an account at another financial institution.

The CDF office in Wollongong can take deposits, conduct transfers and make withdrawals, on written request made to us via post, by way of cheque. Contact us for more information.

The CBA is the CDF’s bank. The CDF is not part of the CBA, but is a client of the CBA. As such there are some services the CBA performs on behalf of the CDF, including cashing cheques, taking deposits and 100 points identifications. There is no cost to the CDF depositors for these services.