Kids birthday cheques.....

mrcow

Natwest were giving away a free Dorking Kindersley book with every child's saving account.

May be worth a look

mrcow

Looks like the offer has changed now though:

http://www.natwest.com/personal/savings/g4/children/young-saver.ashx

crockpot

My boys have savings accounts in their own name but I am also on the account, openned when theyu were babies.

Some people send cheques in my name, I can pay cheques in with their or my name on.

leylie

Remember that bank/building accounts opened in a child's name should be tax exempt (a form needs to be signed for this - i think i did it as the parent) - however I believe this does NOT apply if the parent has their name added (so you can't fiddle the tax-man!!)

Nearly all of the high street banks and building societies will have special bank accounts for children. From about the age of 7 children are deemed to be able to sign/write their name, so at about that age, I took mine down and they opened accounts.

Like you, I wanted the children to be able to use these accounts rather than be long-term savings accounts, so to be honest using a local bank was the most convenient (rather than any interest rate!).
They were issued with paying in books and cash-machine cards (the accounts obviously don't allow overdrafts).
At home, I kept the cards in a safe place, so they had to ask me whenever they wanted to take out any money. I also set up £5 monthly standing order into the account for 'pocket money' from me & Dad - not much but enough to watch the money growing. Gift cheques were added to the account and they were encouraged to think carefully about what to spend it on.
When they were younger they also got a little bit of weekly pocket money in cash for 'frittering'. It was entirely up to them what they bought (mainly sweets of course, but an important part of learning to make decisions ...a packet of crisps and a drink...or a bar of chocolate or a bagful of 'penny-chews'!)

They had birthday pay-rises and then gradual shifts to becoming more responsible for managing their accounts. Now at the age of 15 they have full responsibility for their own cash-cards; all pocket money is paid into their accounts by monthly standing order (they weren't so keen on that idea as they now have to put in effort to get actual cash!); and the pocket money includes allowances for a few cinema/social trips and buying presents for friends and family throughout the year - which in true MSE style they need to be budget for!! - But as they're still under 16 I DO check their statements and talk about spending habits!!

vaio

BoingBoing wrote: »

………..I want to open accounts for them that they can actually use, so they learn and understand cash flow. EG if there's no cash in the account, they cant spend what they don't have and have to save up.

Any recommendations for decent kids accounts? I'll look into Halifax as there's a branch in my local town

Accessible is probably more important than top interest rates

LillyJ

vaio wrote: »

Accessible is probably more important than top interest rates

I agree, I don't know how much money kids get as presents these days but a "good" interest rate is unlikely to add up to more than pennies!

We opened ours in the local town so we could go in and get the money out/pay it in when we needed it.

I loved having a bank book, and when I saw that I took money out and the balance went down, I hated it and decided that the new cuddly toy (or whatever) that I had bought wasn't worth it. It made me think about how long money takes to accumulate, and how easy it is to spend it too quickly.

foreversomeday

I know that my mum just mentioned to all family members if they were sending us cheques for our birthdays or christmas they had to be in her name - and she would then give us the cash. Sometimes we'd choose to put part of the gift in our savings accounts though.

The only problem with opening a bank account for children with a cash card is that most cash machines only give out £10 as the smallest amount, which can be frustrating for younger children because it's quite a high amount to them and can take a while to build up. Perhaps a Post Office account would be better - as there are more branches you can pop in and take the money out at any time? I suppose there are branches of most banks in most towns though.

If you're looking at children's accounts with free gifts and benefits, Bradford and Bingley used to do a children's account and you got a free book once a year. I've just looked it up and it sounds like they still do it, however the account only goes up to age 12 now whereas it used to be 16. I used to love choosing my free book, you got a little catalogue with about 5 choices for each age group.

jellyhead

I'm lazy and haven't opened an account for my youngest yet. Barclays won't let me pay his cheques into my account but the halifax don't look, so I can pay them into my halifax account either over the counter or through the cash machine.

My eldest has a kid account with barclays, which is where I have my current account. His account is part of my online banking portfolio, so I can transfer money back and forth between our accounts.

Savvy_Sue

leylie wrote: »

Remember that bank/building accounts opened in a child's name should be tax exempt (a form needs to be signed for this - i think i did it as the parent) - however I believe this does NOT apply if the parent has their name added (so you can't fiddle the tax-man!!)

Not necessarily: until my boys turned 16 they each had an account, jointly with me, at Britannia, and they got the interest gross. Once they turned 16 we got a letter saying that if they wanted to continue getting the interest gross I would have to come off the account. Oh, and I think they had to prove their identity then as well.

It wasn't a fully joint account, I can't remember how it was described - it was I think their FirstSaver account and had this facility of having an adult's name on it. If I hadn't had my name on it they wouldn't have been able to withdraw anything at all before their 7th birthday, I think.