Childrens Saving Account - Access Question

ptrichardson

Hi,

We have a 2yr old child, and we would like a high-street savings account for her (in addition to an investment fund we manage on her behalf).

What we need is an account where both parents can manage the account to check balances, and make general enquiries
Also, it would be great if it had online banking so that we can check when other people have put money into the account (such as grandparents).

Really not looking to move accounts every year, so hoping for a suggestion where a reasonable interest rate is likely in the long run, rather than an introductory rate that expires after a year.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Peter

MyOnlyPost

I think saving in cash for the kids is probably best done in a Junior ISA. I have seen rates at 3.25% (there may be better) and these would probably rise if over the next 16 years interest rates go up.

A JISA locks the money away and on the childs 18th birthday it becomes legally theres and there will be nothing you can do to withold it if at the time if you feel the child isn't ready to deal with the lump sum. My kids also have passbook accounts which they save a little from their pocket money to, but the rates are paltry

xylophone

For longer term savings, it might be easier to set up a JISA for your child to which grandparents made an agreed monthly payment.

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

Other child savings here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/child-savings-tax-free

ptrichardson

MyOnlyPost wrote: »

I think saving in cash for the kids is probably best done in a Junior ISA. I have seen rates at 3.25% (there may be better) and these would probably rise if over the next 16 years interest rates go up.

A JISA locks the money away and on the childs 18th birthday it becomes legally theres and there will be nothing you can do to withold it if at the time if you feel the child isn't ready to deal with the lump sum. My kids also have passbook accounts which they save a little from their pocket money to, but the rates are paltry

xylophone wrote: »

For longer term savings, it might be easier to set up a JISA for your child to which grandparents made an agreed monthly payment.

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

Other child savings here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/child-savings-tax-free

Thanks for replying - but we have a long-term investment fund for that sort of thing already.
What we need is something that people can put "pocket" money into and that she can take out for holidays, purchases etc.

As per initial post, its not just about best-buy tables. Its about an account that is convenient to use - online access, card for ATM use & both parents being able to manage the account

For example, we did have a Halifax child savings account, and it was terrible.
No card - so couldn't check the balance or withdraw without going into the branch.
No online access - couldn't check that money had gone in when someone told us they were putting it in.
Despite both of us being in the room when it was set up and asking for us both to be able to manage, only one of us was actually designated as an account manager - I wasn't even allowed to get a balance from the counter.
Then they screwed up the tax, and wouldn't deal with me to get it sorted (and eventually also refused to assist my wife, they admitted it was their mistake, then washed their hands of it - basically lost £20 of my child's money)
So that account got closed!

MyOnlyPost

I don't think kids as young as 2 can have cards. IIRC we got a letter just before our sons 14th birthday inviting him to apply for a card. The only way I know of would be to have the account in your names and nominally call the money hers.

Our kids all have accounts at Nationwide and both my wife and I can see the accounts on our internet banking, at nationwide you can see any account your name is on, but you won't get a good long term interest rate in these type of accounts afaik. We went in branch together and were both set up as guardians for the account, but they couldn't set both of us up on the kids ISA's or CTF's, it was one or the other.

I assume different banks have different systems in place for different accounts

ptrichardson

MyOnlyPost wrote: »

I don't think kids as young as 2 can have cards. IIRC we got a letter just before our sons 14th birthday inviting him to apply for a card. The only way I know of would be to have the account in your names and nominally call the money hers.

Our kids all have accounts at Nationwide and both my wife and I can see the accounts on our internet banking, at nationwide you can see any account your name is on, but you won't get a good long term interest rate in these type of accounts afaik. We went in branch together and were both set up as guardians for the account, but they couldn't set both of us up on the kids ISA's or CTF's, it was one or the other.

I assume different banks have different systems in place for different accounts

Thanks for the tip re: cards. So alternative is that it can be accessed online.

Nationwide isn't ideal - there isn't a branch within 10 miles of where we live.

PeacefulWaters

basically lost £20 of my child's money

A short note from parent to HMRC should recover that.

ptrichardson

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

A short note from parent to HMRC should recover that.

True.
I was just angry that they admitted making the mistake (and not just on my account, but apparently on "all new accounts that year" - was the comment a member of staff made, then went red and walked away!) and they clearly made the choice to keep it quiet and hope nobody noticed - and then refuse to deal with the issue that they created.
Not the type of company I want to give my business to.

unimaginative_user_name

For a child that young you might be better off opening a joint account in your own names that you can access online. There are no guarantees that any account will continue to pay anything like a decent interest rate and ditching and switching has become the norm for anyone trying to get the most from their savings. You can always transfer the funds to an account in your child's name when they reach seven.

A Tesco current account might work for you. There are no high street branches as such but I always post cheques off and there have never been any problems. The Tesco account have no minimum pay ins per month and the interest rate has remained stable for a while.

ptrichardson

I should have re-phrased my earlier point. I'm not overly interested in the interest rate.

This is a bank account for the convenience of a local branch AND online access to check transactions - larger sums of money will be moved off into the investment fund anyway.

I'd much rather have it in her name, so she can get used to the concept of having a proper bank account and learn how to save. It was great for me - I remember my passbook very fondly - actually I still have it, going back to the day I was born.

MyOnlyPost

It may be better to list banks which are close enough to you to be viable and ask people to limit their opinions/experiences to those banks