Advice needed - cheques made out to children - no bank accounts

gladigirl

Hi
Can anyone give me a bit of advice. I have just had two cheques arrive for the childrens endowments - they are made out to the children but the children have no bank accounts. How do I go about cashing them? Do they have to open bank accounts and if so what are the best ones for this purpose. The kids are 7 & 12 & I have no idea of what to do with these cheques so any help would be really appreciated.

natweststaffmember

The cheques if A/c payee have to go into the account of the named child.
Most banks offer accounts for kids and so its worth having a look around. Normal requirement would be birth certificate and proof of your address. If your surname is different to the kids' it can complicate things, if that is the case then post on here.

Extant

Most places start offering accounts to children in their own right at the age of eleven - so you could open a "current account" for the twelve year old. As for the seven year old, approach your own bank and see if they offer a savings account for young children. These are normally held in the name of the parent, i.e. Parent re: Child, but some places may offer them straight in the name of the child.

BruceyBonus

If the kids don't have any savings accounts - perhaps those cheques could be a good reason to open one and start putting a little aside for them (whatever you can afford).

trynsave

I have Halifax Regular Savers a/c for my kids.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/childregularsaver.asp

Pays 8% gross interest if you complete R85 for each a/c.

Must save between £10-£100 pm for 12mths. No withdrawals or missed payments allowed. At the end of the year all monies are swept into an instant access a/c.

Available for children up to 16 online, phone or in branch