When it comes to making sense of the bamboozling array of superannuation options, most people haven't even noticed retirement savings accounts (RSAs).

They provide reasonable and safe returns and low fees but they have been largely overlooked because institutions would rather direct your money into more lucrative products for them.

Consequently, in the five years since RSAs arrived on the scene, they have attracted just under $460 million into their coffers.

But there are good reasons to take notice of them, particularly if you are looking for a temporary parking spot for your super savings.

Basil La Brooy, community education officer at the National Information Centre on Retirement Investments, says RSAs can be suitable for someone who suddenly has additional funds to invest in super through the sale of a property or an inheritance when he or she is close to retirement age.

"Perhaps they are making a contribution to super before they roll the money into an allocated pension or an immediate annuity," he says.

They can also be attractive to employers and employees who are making relatively small contributions into super, typically the contributions of casual or part-time workers.

"For a young person who has a couple of jobs it's a cheap means of building up their super until it gets to a reasonable level," he says.

The problem is that people are often unaware of the existence of these accounts, available through banks and credit unions.

Andrew Willink, managing director of the research house Cannex, says RSAs tend not to be widely promoted by banks or financial planners because they prefer to channel people into managed funds, which are more lucrative for them.

Investors have also tended to use the capital-guaranteed cash options in super funds if they are simply wanting to park their money for six to 12 months.

Julia Quinn, a spokeswoman for Westpac, says the accounts were introduced in anticipation of people having more choice about how their superannuation was invested but the legislation around member choice is yet to take effect.

They have been slow to take off but if they sound like the product for your needs there are 11 RSAs on the market.

As the table from Cannex shows, interest rates on these accounts range from 0.1 to 5.55 per cent.

Usually the higher rates apply to bigger balances but in some cases such as with the Bananacoast Credit Union, AMP and Challenge Bank the top rate kicks in when your balance reaches $10,000.

The Queensland Police Credit Union pays a starting rate of 4.75 per cent, rising to 5.55 per cent.

Willink advises people to consider retirement savings term deposits available from the Commonwealth Bank and the Credit Union of Canberra if they can tie up their money till maturity.

"You can still invest for one or two years and gain some extra return," he says.

But the real beauty of RSAs is you can usually open one with $1 or less, your capital is guaranteed and the returns will not be gobbled up by excessive fees because they were designed for people with small balances.

Generally the only charges attached to RSAs are account-keeping fees of about $2 a month and often these will be waived when your account reaches a certain balance in some cases as low as $1000.

There can be additional charges for statements and, in some cases, transfers. The National Australia Bank charges customers $30 to transfer out of its RSA.

Still it is important not to mistake the RSA for an everyday bank account.

Michaela Anderson, director of policy and research at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, says RSAs may look like a bank account but all the usual superannuation rules still apply your money is not accessible until you turn 65.

But the super rules can also act in your favour.

Brandon Phillips, a spokesman for NAB, says RSAs benefit from concessional tax treatment of their earnings as with other forms of super, with any interest taxed at 15 per cent.

Nevertheless, people who are still years away from retirement are probably better off stashing their super savings elsewhere.

Current rates on RSAs may look good when compared with the dismal performance of super funds in the past year but in the long term funds that have the majority of their investments in growth assets such as shares and property are more likely to give superior returns.

Anderson suggests someone who is depositing small amounts of money into an RSA should make the effort to "harvest" it on a regular basis transferring it into a super fund investing in higher-return assets such as shares and property.

However, if you decide to follow such a strategy you need to select a fund with a similarly low-cost fee structure, she suggests.

"You would have to look closely at where you were moving it to," she says. "Some funds might have high entry fees so that you wipe out anything that you are saving."

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