Child saving accounts

dabber16

My mother has been saving money into accounts with B & B for my 2 children for a number of years. The accounts are in their name. Currently the rate of interest on account is 0.1% and she would like to move the money to another bank to get them better interest. She was told by B & B that it was not possible and the money has to stay there until they are 16 yrs old and then they can have access to their money themselves to change accounts but as the trustee she cannot move it as it could be a tax saving fiddle. Is this correct

ses6jwg

dabber16 wrote: »

My mother has been saving money into accounts with B & B for my 2 children for a number of years. The accounts are in their name. Currently the rate of interest on account is 0.1% and she would like to move the money to another bank to get them better interest. She was told by B & B that it was not possible and the money has to stay there until they are 16 yrs old and then they can have access to their money themselves to change accounts but as the trustee she cannot move it as it could be a tax saving fiddle. Is this correct

Sounds like sheeeeeeite to me.

Its your money, not theirs.

opinions4u

dabber16 wrote: »

My mother has been saving money into accounts with B & B for my 2 children for a number of years. The accounts are in their name. Currently the rate of interest on account is 0.1% and she would like to move the money to another bank to get them better interest. She was told by B & B that it was not possible and the money has to stay there until they are 16 yrs old and then they can have access to their money themselves to change accounts but as the trustee she cannot move it as it could be a tax saving fiddle. Is this correct

If she is named as trustee on the accounts, she can act in the children's best interests with regards to the money.

She could reasonably:

- close the accounts and walk the proceeds round to the Halifax etc and open new trustee accounts there.
- blow the lot on a great day out for the kids at Alton Towers
- use the funds to buy an education

As long as the proceeds are used for the children it would be very difficult to claim any sort of tax fiddle has taken place.

Unless the B&B T&Cs state otherwise, she can access the funds on behalf of the beneficiaries.

If, however, the accounts are just in the sole name of each child, and there is no named beneficiary, the kids are completely at the mercy of B&B.