Accessing child trust fund when 18

Iwanttobefree

Hi, asking for a friend.

Her daughters now 18, her daughter asked Natwest if she could withdraw her child trust fund, Natwest said it's been transferred into an ISA and she can't.

She's confused and doesn't understand why she can't access it?

Thanks

eskbanker

What specific reason did they give?  Money in an ISA can be accessed so in itself that isn't a meaningful rationale....

Alexland

Sounds like a simple misunderstanding in the conversation.

If she provides any required ID she should be able to access the money now in the ISA.

She should try again.

grumiofoundation

Iwanttobefree said:

Hi, asking for a friend.

Her daughters now 18, her daughter asked Natwest if she could withdraw her child trust fund, Natwest said it's been transferred into an ISA and she can't.

She's confused and doesn't understand why she can't access it?

Thanks

Who asked to withdraw it - the daughter or the mother?

Ciprico

I had this problem.

The JISA has to become an ISA when the child turns 18

....but to set up an ISA the provider needs various anti-money laundering assurances. (photo id etc)

ie JISA does not automatically become a full ISA, it gets stuck in limbo.

So you need to contact the ISA provider and ask them what they need in terms of ID to create a normal ISA.

xylophone

This doesn't make any sense.

If she has a JISA (transferred from CTF?) with Natwest then she has the right to access the account from her 18th birthday.

Ciprico

Not with interactive investor jisa...

When my son turned 18 the Jisa instantly disappeared off ii web homepage and he was sent paperwork to open his own independent isa.

Couldn't withdraw money until the isa paperwork was returned 

Iwanttobefree

grumiofoundation said:

Iwanttobefree said:

Hi, asking for a friend.

Her daughters now 18, her daughter asked Natwest if she could withdraw her child trust fund, Natwest said it's been transferred into an ISA and she can't.

She's confused and doesn't understand why she can't access it?

Thanks

Who asked to withdraw it - the daughter or the mother?

Daughter.   I'm getting the info from daughters mother who asked me if I could find out for her, chances are, somethings missing in what she's told me, I'll relay advice given here, thanks

xylophone

When my son turned 18 the Jisa instantly disappeared off ii web homepage and he was sent paperwork to open his own independent isa.

Any of the providers would require contact from the owner of the JISA (the young person) in order to release the funds/ transfer them elsewhere.

The point is that the owner does have the absolute right of access  when he  has reached 18, once he has satisfied the provider's formalities.

This is very far from being told that "he cannot access the JISA because it has become an ISA" a statement which makes no sense at all.

Examples

https://help.fidelity.co.uk/site/investment-tools-and-products/junior-isa-maturing#:~:text=A Junior ISA automatically becomes,full control over the account.

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/help/terms/junior-isa-maturity

Jami74

 Iwanttobefree said:

Hi, asking for a friend.

Her daughters now 18, her daughter asked Natwest if she could withdraw her child trust fund, Natwest said it's been transferred into an ISA and she can't.

She's confused and doesn't understand why she can't access it?

Thanks

My daughter is 18 and still trying to get her child trust fund money from Natwest. It was not converted into a JISA.

Natwest send out a letter a few weeks before the 18th birthday. We didn't receive this as we had moved, she contacted them to explain she had moved and did not receive the paperwork. The child trust fund has been converted into an adult cash ISA and she would need to complete the forms that they would send her and get photocopies of her ID verified. She took photocopies of her ID to college on results day and a teacher kindly verified them for her. Now she needs to post them back along with a bank statement so they know where to transfer her money to. 

It has been a bit long winded so far and she had to ask twice before the forms arrived.

Maybe your friends daughter could try phoning them again (via the child trust fund website number) and asking for the forms to be resent. From Googling and reading other peoples experience, Natwest branches can't help and she has to go via the proper child trust fund website.

Iwanttobefree

Thanks Jami74, wish I'd read your reply first, this is what happened today.

Hers had been transferred to an Adult Isa according to the letter she got, the letter stated if she didn't log in and tell them what she wanted to to by xyz, it would automatically be transferred to an adult isa within 7 days of her reaching 18 (words to that effect)

She said she tried to access the account as soon as she got the letter (she said she got it one day after her 18th birthday) but it wouldn't let her, and then got frustrated at being on hold over an hour..........

I contacted Natwest through their online chat, got to a human, explained everything, they said as she doesn't have a current account with them, she can't do anything online, and has to go into the branch to close it and get her money.

So we get in the car, drive to the nearest Natwest (one nearby was closed a few years ago), explained to a very helpful lady what had happened, how the online guy said we had to come in etc.  She took the details, looked on her system, spoke to another employee about it, and came back and said unfortunately the online chat guy was wrong, as it's to do with a child trust fund, there's nothing on a branches computer about it, and the only way to get it sorted was to phone the number on the letter.

She was very very apologetic, I told her it's not her fault but she was still apologetic saying we were far from the first people to have the same problem etc.

So we went to my friends house, she phoned them (she said she had tried 5 times in the previous few weeks, each time after being on hold for an hour she gave up), we got through after about 35 mins, a very helpful lady, and she basically said exactly the same as Jami74, she will arrange for a letter to be sent out, once completed and returned with necessary ID, it would all be sorted and money transferred to where she wants it to go. 

I asked how long the process will take once they get the letter back, she couldn't give a time and said they were very busy at the moment.

Why they cant email the form for us to print out I don't know, but still, all sorted now, many thanks all.