Colonial First State

I don't have super, it was converted to a tax free Allocated Pension when I retired, I also have two investment accounts which are combined, one is CFS Growth and the Other is CFS High growth. Many people would consider High Growth as "risky" but I haven't found this not to be the case and over time both have doubled in value, and High Growth… Read more

outperformed Growth by about 25% The main thing is not to panic and sell when there is a downturn, this is how most people lose, also it is important not to take quarterly distributions in cash, the extra units over time grow exponentially, just look at the chart. Due to Trump in the USA the market lately has been volatile but I have noticed the team at CFS has often shown a rise in value of my investments when the Dow and ASX 200 have been down. Over a long period of time I have had a few disputes with certain areas, but CFS have always corrected these and have compensated me if it caused a any loss. They bend over backwards to look after me I must say.

Trying to transfer my own super has been unnecessarily difficult with this organisation. I submitted my Kiwi transfer twice and both times they claimed my certified driver licence was “unclear” it isn’t. It’s clearly visible, legible, and properly certified. Instead of explaining what’s actually wrong, they send vague responses and keep shifting… Read more

the issue.

First it was account details, now it’s ID quality — despite no change in the documents. Every time I address something, a new “problem” appears.

I’ve already been denied financial hardship and am trying to transfer my super to access support elsewhere, but I’m being stalled with unclear and inconsistent requirements.

This feels less like compliance and more like unnecessary obstruction to delay access to my own money.

Not an isolated issue either — a family member had the same experience and only got it resolved after excessive back-and-forth.

Now escalating through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Would not recommend.

Their customer service is terrible. Turnaround times are bad, they constantly stuff things up. They lie. I’ve had multiple bad experiences with them in relation to their managed fund.

I’m a long time customer of Colonial First State, as I Superannuation company I like them ! Within the last month in Australia we experienced the collapse of a Superannuation company called First Guardian Superannuation, “not affiliated with… Read more

Colonial First State” they collapsed taking with them $450million of their customers hard earned savings. Concerned about the safety of our super I called Colonial First State to enquire as to how safe our money was with them ? Were they perhaps re insured with a third party to protect their customers? Did they have a general policy statement to cover the rate chance of this happening to themselves.one would think they would have a script ready exactly for this sort of a question. I was absolutely gobsmacked to learn that they had no policy statement in place, nothing, nada, neicht, zilch, they didn’t even know of the first guardian collapse, they had no response other than maybe you should sift through our policy statement to see if there’s something there maybe, I asked to speak to a supervisor, 15 minutes later I came back to the same agent. I dont know, I can’t comment, nobody seems to know I’m afraid. This is big news in the financial industry at the moment and they can’t even comment on wether our money invested with Colonial is protected or not ???????

Colonial needs to get together and formulate some sort of response, because they’re going to be asked these questions a lot.

I turned up randomly off the street to ask for some infornation on some aspects of my Super. I was welcomed. The kind lady that helped me out was really knowledgable about the product and was able to provide some great assistance for me. 20/10 The office /reception was great. Thank you for all your help!

Great flexibility – Firstchoice has been a dream. Initially I was a bit skeptical, but after being educated by our Adviser, and doing my own research, instead of relying on misleading media articles, I'm glad we got out of Australian super. Having access to over 170 options under both the super and investment platforms, with a number of internally geared options,… Read more

has allowed myself and my family to really fast track our plans.

Working closely with our adviser, we have been able to invest our super, extremely aggressive, averaging north of 15-20% over the long term, which has knock years off our working days. we have also been able to invest outside super via our trust, in their investment platform, again this has provided greater flexibility to leave the workforce even earlier again, and give our children a greater head start in life.

As explained by our Adviser and as some of the below reviews state, their generic one size fits all options, are lagging other funds, mainly due to not offering unlisted options, which we all know are very questionable, regarding the valuations. But if you have some sense on how investment markets work, employ a good Adviser and make full use of their platforms, you'll never look back.

Bad initial experience but overall was good experience – I had to lodge a TPD through my super with first state, they initial person I spoke with was rude, but I was transferred to another person who was very nice, they were slow in the decision process but I understood due to the complexity of my case, however rapped it up with 4 months. Overall result with good, but they need to be aware of the… Read more

initial customer experience with people this seems to be a big problem with insurance companies as I experienced the same with AMP (WHO ARE USELESS and still fighting out with them). However, the second person at first state did a good job.

CFS Edge is just horrible Dividend administration is constantly in error and tax treatment for 24/25 is yet to be completed. Hoping it is sold soon to a better admin service

Wish it could be a negative rating. Had my employer organise everyone’s super to this mob, when trying to transfer my super to a new fund through the myGov app says my transfer is pending. I send emails as to why they won’t transfer my super, no response, they’re only open when I work so took me ages to call them. They refused to go further after… Read more

asking for my name and DOB, put me on hold, came back and said they won’t talk to or tell me anything until a fill a change of information form? I’ve only moved house twice in the last 15 years so what details? I’ve only changed jobs once since being with colonial first state so what details have changed? I gave them the 2 addresses I’ve lived at, my phone number? I’ve only even had the one phone number and email my entire adult life? So what has changed? Why do I NEED TO FILL OUT A PAPER FORM AND POST IT BACK LIKE ITS 1989? Update WHAT?!!???!! I’m so beyond livid with this horrible group/ fund! I cannot tell you how angry I am, I’m loosing so much $$$ cos of this cr#p and now I have to jump through hoops to fix up details that have barely changed in 10 years for a fund MY EMPLOYER ORGANISED I NEVER CHOSE THIS FUND!!! Let me make that part clear! This is horrific!!!!

My 'Financial Adviser' had recommended Colonial to me around 2008. Knowing nothing about super, I took his advice. He wasn't obliged to tell me that Colonial were a poor performer or that Financial Advisors get a nice slice of the Colonial cake for each person they enrol. I found that out in 2020 when the media did a review of super funds. I… Read more

checked the returns that Colonial had been giving me and, as per the media reports, it was rubbish. I moved everything to an 'Industry' fund. I'm now with HostPlus, but I'm sure there are other good Industry Funds to choose from.

I'm in the process of extracting a friend from Colonial. I see her returns have also been dreadful. Something like 30% in 10 years.

I was recently declined for a higher level of salary continuance with "please call us for more information" cited as the reason. When I called I was passed around several times. When I finally got to talk to someone about it instead of just being immediately transferred, they said I was turned down based on "pre-existing conditions." The only… Read more

pre-existing condition I had was Endometriosis, and I had an elective hysterectomy ten years ago to improve QoL. I haven't had any issues since. There have been no other health concerns and I'm extremely healthy. They refused to explain further on how that means I'm an insurance risk and provided no avenue for review.

I'm arranging to transfer to a super fund that doesn't rely on outdated sexist medical "knowledge" and encouraging any coworker with them to do the same. I can't actually believe that in 2026 we're still reducing women to little more than their reproductive value.

From the bottom of my heart, screw you CFS. I hope AMP tears you to shreds and no one makes even a dollar from the deal.

Without any real choice on my part, I was transferred from Colonial First Wrap (which was good) to a thing called CFS Edge in around April 2025. Since then, there have been errors every month; they keep changing the figures mid-month and....they cannot even add up a row of numbers to the total shown at the bottom. Four months now and it is still… Read more

happening every month. I ring, I ask them why, they say they will address it, tell me they have fixed it (when they bother to call back) and the next month, the numbers don't add up again.

I am sick of them, poor service and CFS Edge looks like a piece of thrown together junk.

I will be asking my financial advisor to see what other businesses are around out there.

Oh, CFS Edge is very good and very quick at deducting my monthly fees.

One Star because I cannot give zero. What a horrible company to deal with. Took almost half my contributions in fees and charges. Refusing to return my money. Avoid like the plague !!!

We were pressured by our former financial advisor to move the CFS platform. It was an awful decision. The valuation of our portfolio was completely incorrect using values on the transfer date, not original purchase. Foreign trading was affected by public holidays in Hong Kong! To move to the platform was free. To move off cost $100 per security, a fee hidden in page 34 of the t&c’s. we lasted 12 months and had to get out no matter the cost. Show details

Colonial First and their associated trading platform CFS edge is the WORST for self managed superfunds. They had a bad reputation before, but then ensconced themselves with financial advisors to get their product recommended to new self managed superfund customers. Here is our experience, so no one else has to go through this. I have proof if… Read more

anyone wants to see:

1. It takes days and over a week sometimes for your funds to be transferred from your account to the cfs edge account. Even if the funds land within the cfs edge account, they have this gimmick where they need to be ‘cleared’ which can take a day or more - our financial advisor had to keep chasing up for this ‘clearing’ to occur.

2. Your deposits are not always be successful - we don’t know why but when you transfer money to a CFS Edge account, the deposit is not successful. This is unheard of. And cost us 40% upside on a trade, not to mention multiple other lost opportunities. I am not joking.

3. Once you are set up with them through a financial advisor, ONLY the financial advisor can place trades, not you. So, if your financial advisor is on holiday, good luck! No trade for you!

4. We have been charged $50 per trade. This is outrageous. I am not joking. Happy to show proof. They don’t tell you this when you sign up. $50 per trade is incomprehensible. There is no need for anyone to pay such an astronomical brokerage fee. FYI - Another company charges $3 per trade.

5. We are paying $88 per month as ‘holding' fee. Holding for what - we are not sure. But $88 for the money to just sit there and do nothing.

Even our financial advisor has acknowledged that CFS Edge is not good for our needs and we are moving elsewhere. We don't even trade often, so, if this company cannot service 1-2 trades per month then what good is their trading platform for? I am stunned at this level of inefficiency.

With this company, you will end up missing multiple market opportunities, paying high fees for nonsensical purposes (e.g holding fees), and brokerage fees of up to $50 per trade. We are not even sure if $50 per trade is the limit. That is the highest we have been charged to date but who knows with these guys.

We have set up an appointment with another big bank to set up our trading account. Can’t wait to say ‘good riddance’ to this company.

Terrible Unusable Website & App – Hopeless company for ex pats! Some years ago Colonial 1st State came up with the genius idea of going online only & paper free. Excellent idea for a super fund that is relied upon by elderly pensioners who may not be computer literate. While I am computer literate, CFS wasn't going to let a little thing like that from locking me out of my… Read more

pension. Their useless app is unusable outside of Australia because it will only register Australian post codes. Even though these clowns know that I've lived in the UK since 2005. So, I now no longer have any access to my pension account or any way of regaining access. Cheers Colonial! AVOID THESE CLOWNS AT ALL COSTS IF YOU HAVE ANY INTENTION OF ACTUALLY GETTING OLD & NEEDING YOUR PENSION!

Danger, don't touch – Colonial would be one of the companies in the mind of a previous Federal Government when the laws were tightened about how super funds and financial advisors operate. My 'financial advisor' had my money with Colonial for maybe 6 years before I worked out that the 'low fees' did not come close to compensating for the loss I was experiencing due to… Read more

low growth. I suspect that my financial advisor (Prime Partners) was not working in my best interests. I now have my super funds spread between HostPlus, Aussie Super and Cbus.

Disappointing Customer Service – Don’t try transferring an account, absolute nightmare and you can’t speak to anyone in the team whom do this job, the person who answers the phone can’t help! Frustrated and would not recommend this company.

Incompetence – If I could give a minus score I certainly would. My wife and I have been attempting to close our CGS Edge pension accounts now for months and we keep getting the same old incompetent riff raff it will take more time. We have raised numerous complaints, none of them actioned. Their app doesn't work for us on our phones, they know why but won't… Read more

spend time to fix it. Total incompetence, do not trust this company. Customer service trolls out the same old excuses.

Awful Broken Website – I try to use their silly upload to upload an intent to claim form, but it fails every time.. Surely getting a website to work isn't rocket science in this day and age? I keep getting the helpful message: This functionality is currently unavailable. Please try again later

Epitome of incompetence – I have a pending request for a statement since 18th July. I have called customer service 4 times, and each time, I get assurance, my issue will be resolved immediately. Last call, I was informed to expect an email with the requested information in 3 days' time; I have no idea why an email should take 3 days. it's 3 days on and the email hasn't… Read more

arrived. Do I need to find the CEO's contact details to get a basic request done? It's shocking that your organisation has a Chief Customer Officer and a CTO, Joshua Grace and Jeroen Buwalda you should hang your heads in shame

Colonial First State Administration Failure ! – Called today about investment statements for end of year tax. Whilst the tax statements have been issued I was told the annual statement for the period ending 30 June 2024 , will not be available online until as late as 14 August ! .How CFS thinks that is acceptable is beyond me. But there is more, as the helpful customer service officer kindly… Read more

said she can generate the statement, which she did. However I was flabbergasted when she said it will take up to 3 business days to receive the email !! CFS are kidding themselves , if they think that is acceptable. It’s 2024 and every other financial institution I deal with has been able to send an email on the same day as requested. Seriously CFS lift your game.

How is it legal? – If I could give minus 10, I’d certainly give it. Surely very expensive cover without hope for any help in the dire circumstances. Months of bureaucratic torment to make sure they don’t pay you a cent. No surprise there have been legal proceedings- class actions against this scam. Not to mention, the disappearing funds. Absolutely heartbreaking how they can treat their customers like they do.

Poor communication and deductions without permission – Colonial implemented income protection insurance that I had made an enquiry about. They deducted $9000 from my super account based on an enquiry. A year later I'm still fighting them. I have transferred to another super company.

Can't cash out our pension with the Colonial First State! – We were an expat family in Perth, OZ many years ago. Now we are trying to cash out our pension from the Colonial First State as we are back in the UK. We sent off all the documents they requested and they sent us the cheque in Jan. When we tried to cash out through Bank of Scotland, the cheque was rejected. Since then, we have been chasing the… Read more

Colonial First State. Today is the 10th of April STILL NOTHING has been sorted out by the company. The Colonial First State is the worst financial institute we have ever experienced during so many years of expat life.

Dreadful – Dreadful customer service, rude and obstructionist…and incompetent…greatly increased my stress while organising my mother’s affairs, so much so I gave up and let my legal team deal with it…Sad to think I once had several policies with this lot….never again! Geoff

Performance used to be good but not in recent years – I started using CFS more than 20 years, I used their investment products and superannuation products. Their performance used to be good but not in recent years, because of that I switched my investments to other companies.

Error after error – Super was rolled over with partial withdrawal. They sent all the money to our account, not just the small withdrawal amount, ALL!! Big error and now call them to fix and promises and promises. Didn’t call back as promised, no email as promised and still not fixed!!! Disgusting customer service. Fob off

What happened to 20 years? – From rolling my super over to Colonial it grew well. Until COVID hit and had lost a lot over the last 4 years. It could never go beyond a particular threshold, it would get very close and pull back big time. After twice consulting with their customer representatives on different occasions, they both read from the same script, waffling the same… Read more

mind-numbing garble where they never pause to take a breath. I even put the phone on speaker, went and made a cup of tea and they were still talking underwater with marbles in their mouth. You have to be very abrupt to interject if you need to ask a question, they agree with you, then taper off onto a tangent again following their script. Both phone calls will be times I'll never get back in my life. It did prove one thing from the second experience. THEY DON'T CARE!, take your money and run to a different fund manager.