F&C Childrens Investment Plans - New Charges

atush

I;ll oook at it, then deice. I save monthly and have5 figures in it so if % I could work out better but will have to do the math.

Otherwise i can transfer my shares to a brokerage, and continue saving with someone who doens' charge an onerous fee.
will have to see what happens with others first though.

jimjames

margaretclare wrote: »

Oooops. I only started a plan as recently as last week, for each of my twin great-granddaughters. I only want to put in £25 a month each because it has got 18 years to grow (whether I'm around or not). I've heard nothing about extra charges, but maybe I didn't read the small print well enough.

You could well get the letter this week as they may be sending them in batches.

It is very poor if you have just taken out a plan and suddenly get these charges which equate to a month's contribution from each year. Unfortunately there will always be a cutoff point where they are accepting applications before releasing the news.

With the new charges I personally wouldn't be investing in a plan that took 1/12 of my payments in costs. Either using an ISA or one of the other IT savings schemes that are currently not levying additional fees may be a better alternative.

margaretclare

jimjames wrote: »

You could well get the letter this week as they may be sending them in batches.

It is very poor if you have just taken out a plan and suddenly get these charges which equate to a month's contribution from each year. Unfortunately there will always be a cutoff point where they are accepting applications before releasing the news.

With the new charges I personally wouldn't be investing in a plan that took 1/12 of my payments in costs. Either using an ISA or one of the other IT savings schemes that are currently not levying additional fees may be a better alternative.

I'll definitely think of another method of doing this if I suddenly get a letter. No problem at all. I can just close the account and think of something else. Following advice from others on another thread, this was what I opted for. May look at the idea of a 'friendly society' which is what I did for the last generation. I liked the idea of keeping control of it, though, and stipulating when it pays out - my choice was their 18th birthday.

jimjames

margaretclare wrote: »

May look at the idea of a 'friendly society' which is what I did for the last generation. I liked the idea of keeping control of it, though, and stipulating when it pays out - my choice was their 18th birthday.

Personally I wouldn't touch a friendly society with a bargepole. They may have the only option for the last generation but there are far better, cheaper and more flexible options. Even something like a Junior ISA with Hl.co.uk would be better.

Disadvantages on the Friendly Soc plans are:

High costs
Poor performance and lack of choice
Lack of flexibility for changing payment amounts or duration

With JISA or F&C you can start and stop when you want with a huge range of funds to put inside it.

atush

M,

you could open a new plan re both of the girls, and just have one. would halve the charges. Transfer the old ones to this new one before the changes maybe?

As your plan is unwrapped, you can mess around with it and even close it.

berneslai

Just seen this e-petition for CTF conversion to junior ISA (not my own work). Seems even more salient after my letter from F&C today.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45469

wazza24

Hi all could really do with some advise regarding these F&C Charges. currently both my boys have their CTF in a S&S. global smaller and Foreign & Colonial, i moved them there last march from a stakeholder ctf which really wasnt doing much. now after the first few months there was a bit of a loss but they have both came round well since last year.

at the moment one account is sitting around £730 and the other around £600. i dont currently put anything extra into these acounts per month. (however i do put £50 per month into a little rock acc 3%). so question is should i consider moving their ctf to F&C stakeholder account as the charge is capped at 1.5%. correct me if i am wrong but the £25 would be roughly a 3.4% charge (on the £730 acc) on the S&S ctf ? although in the last year on the smaller global they have had a 16% increase and a 7.8% on the foreign & colonial. so in the past year even if they had paid the charge they would probably still have been better off in the S&S ctf.

i hope i am making sense here and that my calculations are correct (i am by no means a financial expert, just a concerned parent trying to do the best financial for my kids)

thanks

NCTbabe

Hi
I have three identical letters each one announcing charges of £25 + VAT
I have never added extra to these funds.
I was all but forced to open them by the government of the time.
Fund 1 had both vouchers
Fund 2 & 3 only had one voucher

The F&C charges will wipe the fund out
I don't suddenly have £90 over the year to pay these charges!
I do not like either option and feel my children are effectively being robbed by F&C.

I have read this thread and signed the petition to convert CTFs into Junior ISAs but what now? I am not a financial mover and shaker so any suggestions as to what I should do next will be gratefully received.

Many thanks

westy22

although in the last year on the smaller global they have had a 16% increase and a 7.8% on the foreign & colonial. so in the past year even if they had paid the charge they would probably still have been better off in the S&S ctf.

Well, you have answered your own question then.

jimjames

NCTbabe wrote: »

Hi
I have three identical letters each one announcing charges of £25 + VAT
I have never added extra to these funds.
I was all but forced to open them by the government of the time.
Fund 1 had both vouchers
Fund 2 & 3 only had one voucher

The F&C charges will wipe the fund out
I don't suddenly have £90 over the year to pay these charges!
I do not like either option and feel my children are effectively being robbed by F&C.

I have read this thread and signed the petition to convert CTFs into Junior ISAs but what now? I am not a financial mover and shaker so any suggestions as to what I should do next will be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Might be worth contacting the press. Not sure if any of the forum admins can alert Martin who may help but when it relates to funds given by the govt that are fixed in a scheme it does seem very unfair that such relatively large fees are proposed. I'm lucky as I can move my funds out as they are not CTF but for those that can't it needs to be highlighted.

I may be able to put something together with some contacts I have but as I don't have a CTF I don't have details of the numbers etc so if someone can PM me I can look into it.