CDF only lends to Catholic organisations. Some of these include:

• Schools & Colleges: Supporting educational programs and infrastructure development.
• Parishes: Assisting with the construction or renovation of church buildings and community facilities.
• Charities and social services: Supporting the poor and vulnerable through community-focused work.
• Healthcare: To enhance the medical services and facilities of hospitals, aged care homes and other healthcare providers.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we prioritise our customers’ needs rather than profits, enabling us to pass on benefits in the form of attractive interest rates.

Funding from within the Catholic community, along with our prudent financial management and governance structure, is an important and cost-effective way to continue the Church’s work. These savings are reflected in the interest rates we offer to our customers.

View Interest Rates for Organisations

View Interest Rates for Personal Accounts

Anyone can open an account with CDF Community Fund. Individuals ranging from youth through to adults, can open a Mission Saver account. And anyone over the age of 18 can open a personal Term Investment account.

The Catholic faith understands every human life to be equal, inherently sacred and worth of respect and dignity. This is part of Catholic Social Teaching, which reminds of the role we play in society. There is no faith criteria to open a personal account with CDF Community Fund. 

CDF Community Fund offers a range of personal accounts for individuals who can choose from either a fixed Term Investment or a Mission Saver account.

Compare all CDF Community Fund accounts and their features

With millions invested back into the community since our establishment, an account with CDF Community Fund is a way to save for a higher return than money alone. 

Accounts with CDF Community Fund help enable loans for capital development works across Australia – from hospital wings for the sick, to safe havens for the homeless, classrooms for the young and parish halls for community gatherings. 

Learn more about CDF Community Fund.

CDF Online provides convenient and secure web access to manage customer accounts. 

It provides individuals with convenient features including:  

• Account running balances, transaction history and statements.
• Funds transfer capabilities.

It also allows individuals to manage their accounts online from anywhere at any time. 

For more information or to set up an online account contact us.

CDF does not accept cash or cheques for adding funds to personal accounts. You can still add money to your personal account via Direct Debit arrangements. 

Speak to our team for more information.

The CDF Community Fund does not hold an Australian Credit License and as such is not authorised to offer personal loans to individuals.

Under the terms and conditions of a fixed Term Investment with CDF Community Fund, you should not anticipate access to these funds prior to the maturity date. 

Should you suffer unexpected hardship and need access to your investment, consideration under our application for Financial Hardship will need to be followed. In this instance you are required to demonstrate that you will suffer a genuine financial hardship without access to the funds. 

View our Hardship Policy.

To comply with the Australia Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) requirements, we cannot offer accounts without a minimum of 31 days of notice for withdrawal. 

The only exception to this requirement are employees of Catholic organisations who are eligible to access funds immediately with a Mission Saver Plus account.

CDF Community Fund is not a bank or credit union. As such, CDF Community Fund cannot offer certain products and/or accounts such as transactional accounts and ATM cards. Rather, CDF Community Fund operates as a Religious Charitable Development Fund and is prohibited from offering under the terms of:

• Banking exemption No. 1 of 2017 made by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under the Banking Act 1959 (Cth); and
• ASIC Corporations (Charitable Investment Fundraising) Instrument 2016/813 made by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

The above instruments provide that we cannot offer accounts of a transactional nature. These same instruments also set out that CDF Community Fund cannot offer ATM facilities to our clients.

CDF Community Fund is a registered charity under the Australian Charity & Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) for the advancement of religion. Through the issue of debentures to investors, CDF Community Fund raises funds to: 

• Provide finance for capital works for Catholic organisations, principally within the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the Diocese of Sale, the Diocese of Bunbury, and the Diocese of Ballarat.
• Assist in the financial management of investment and assets within the above mentioned Diocese. 
• Achieve operating surpluses, the majority of which are directed toward pastoral works within its Diocese. 

For Mission Saver Student and 31 Day Mission Saver account holders, you can withdraw your money online via CDF Community Fund Online subject to the 31 day notice requirement.

Once the online withdrawal request is set up, your Mission Saver account will have a 31 day restriction showing on your account. To complete the withdrawal of funds online, you will need to finalise the Notice of Withdrawal (NOW) process. You will receive an alert when your funds are available for you to transfer to your ADI account.

For more information about the NOW process, please click here.

Under the terms and conditions of a Fixed Term Investment with CDF Community Fund, you are required to request any changes to your Term Investment prior to the maturity date. 

To provide these instructions, please complete the Term Investment Maturity Advice form which you can email to our Client Services Group at csg@melbcdf.org.au or post to use at PO Box 174, East Melbourne, VIC 8002 .