Use your child - best child savings account

michaels

It sounds as if there are some good paying high limits child saver accounts. Any reason not to use these for the parents savings understanding that the tax will be payable rather than the much lower paying accounts open to all?

xylophone

Money in an account in the name of the child belongs to the child absolutely - this includes the income thereon, irrespective of whether the parent has paid tax on it.

michaels

xylophone wrote: »

Money in an account in the name of the child belongs to the child absolutely - this includes the income thereon, irrespective of whether the parent has paid tax on it.

But there is nothing preventing them returning the money to their parent as a gift? If the child is very young who would make that decision....

xylophone

If the money is held in trust, this would be an abuse of trust?

To open an account in the name of another and use that money as your own is fraud?

Perhaps the bank or building society wouldn't cotton on but if they did, the adult in question might end up with a black mark on his credit record.....

xylophone

It also occurs to me that unless the withdrawals were in cash, it would be difficult for the parent to get hold of the money - the bank/BS would be likely to draw any cheque in the name of the child or in the name of XX Trustees of....

Internet access might not be allowed on trustee type accounts.

michaels

Nationwide appear to offer an account that can be operated online. At what age can a child make their own decisions over their money rather than doing what their parents advise them?

alexhot24

Hello, my son was left a large amount of money £20k by his grandmother. I have been struggling to find what the best solution is to find the best savings account. Please help! thanks
Alex

Froggitt

alexhot24 wrote: »

Hello, my son was left a large amount of money £20k by his grandmother. I have been struggling to find what the best solution is to find the best savings account. Please help! thanks
Alex

One of these.

xylophone wrote: »

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/our-savings-accounts/all-savings-accounts

Smart Limited Access might suit?

"Up to 3.00% gross p.a./AER
(variable) 1 withdrawal including closure is permitted per year. Further withdrawals or subsequent closure is permitted subject to a lower interest rate of 0.75% gross p.a./AER variable"

mbailey wrote: »

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/branch-accounts/#youngsaver

Halifax Young Saver

"3.00% gross/AER on balances from £1 up to £20,000"

Or the Halifax Junior ISA soon to be 4%.

xylophone

How old is your son? If he is eligible for the JISA and you want the special 4% rate at the Halifax, if he is under 16, then you will need to have an ISA with the Halifax-

http://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/cash-isas/junior-cash-isa/

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts/overview

If he has a CTF, bear in mind that this will be transferable to the more flexible JISA next April.

Assuming that it is possible, you could subscribe the full amount to the JISA in this tax year ( £4000) and then subscribe again in the next tax year.

You will hold the balance of the money in an account in bare trust for him.

Assuming that he is eligible you should complete R85 for these non-jisa accounts.

teflon

Just a word of warning if you're considering opening a Halifax Kids Regular Saver - they make you work for your 6%. The process of opening an account took over an hour in a branch, and involved a 'financial healthcheck' for me and my wife, which was a thinly-veiled attempt at getting us to sign up for other Halifax products (current accounts, life insurance, home insurance, etc). The adviser also had to read us various bits of legal text verbatim off her screen, and from printouts, and at one point showed us a video summarising everything she'd already told us.

Don't expect it to be a simple case of filling in a form and providing a copy of your child's birth certificate!