Child Trust Fund - advice needed

Wee_Woman

Hi,

First time post, seeking advice.

My daughter was born in 2008 so we were fortunate to receive a government funded child trust fund for her.

We have been diligently saving a set sum of money for her every month and have a fairly substantial sum of money in the account for her (she’s 11).

We have recently opened a current account for her at the same bank as she has recently started high school. The account has an online banking app which details the balances of all her accounts including the child trust fund balance.

I’m not entirely comfortable with my daughter having sight of the balance in this trust fund account as yet but the bank is telling me that this can’t be changed.

What recourse do I have with the bank as the main signatory of this account? I feel like I’m effectively being forced to have a conversation with my daughter about a fairly substantial amount coming to her on her 18th birthday & it doesn’t feel right. Surely I should have that option myself, when she’s older (say 16).

I can honestly say I don’t know of anyone else who has a large sum of money set aside for their child in these trust funds that would be wanting to divulge this information to an 11 year old.

Do I rule out my daughter using the app (after the bank has told her she can download it) or can I realistically take this back to the bank with any hope of getting this changed?

Any advice / guidance is welcome, thanks.

eskbanker

If you're unhappy with the lack of granularity in the bank's app, why not just vote with your feet and use a different bank for her current account?

Apart from anything else, it won't do any harm to emphasise to her that the days of entrusting one's entire financial affairs to a single institution are largely over and that shopping around is to be encouraged....

Alexland

Alternatively transfer the CTF into a best buy high interest Junior ISA elsewhere.

[Deleted User]

From memory she is allowed control at 16 with a CTF but can't touch it until 18. So she is going to see it at 16 anyway.

xylophone

The CTF or JISA permits control (but not access) at 16.

https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds

When your child is 16 or 18
Once your child turns 16, they can either:

take over the account by contacting the CTF provider
leave you in charge of the account


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


The child can take control of the account when they’re 16, but cannot withdraw the money until they turn 18.

The OP could simply transfer the CTF to a JISA with another provider, eg Coventry BS which is currently paying the best rate.

https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/consumer/product/savings/children/junior-cash-isa.html

justme111

Hi. I did inform my daughter about money that is being saved for her - she has always known it. Ideally I would give her info on where it is invested , how have that investment done etc so that she is prepared for when she can deal with it herself. We have discussed all the potential uses for that money that I could have thought of already. She did not show much interest but hopefully at least something has been retained in her head.
Otherwise I concur with precious advice of changing either CTF provider or bank account provider.