Kids Money Fact: Banks Don’t Care About Your Child’s Money – the truth about Children’s Bank Accounts
Tags: Banks and Kids Money, Banks and your childs money, Child's Savings Accounts, Childrens Bank Accounts, Interest Rates of Childrens Accounts, Interest Rates on Childrens Savings Accounts, Kids Bank Accounts, kids money and banks, Kids Savings, Kids Savings Accounts, the truth about childrens bank accounts, the truth about childrens savings accounts, your childs bank account, your childs savings accounts
I decided it was time for us to open a savings account for our 8 week old son, family and friends had been very generous in gifting him some money and we wanted to get it in the bank to start accruing some interest.
Now I had been looking forward to doing this for him as I remember when my mum opened bank accounts for me – you used to get little gifts, special passbooks (remember those?), preferred interest rates and who can forget the Nat West Piggies – everything to encourage and reward your child for saving.
I started my research on various accounts and was completely horrified. First of all it is so difficult to find the child’s account information on any of the banks websites and when you do find the information, the interest rates are shocking – see below for my quick comparison.
| Institution | Account | Interest Rate | |
| HSBC | High Interest Savings Account for Children | ? | Really hard to find the information on their website. You have to click ‘savings’, then ‘more products’, then ‘high interest savings account for children’. There is no information given on the interest rate on this account. |
| Lloyds TSB | Young Saver for Children | 0.50% | Easy to find information on the website and very clear about the interest rate and how to open the account |
| Barclays | Children’s Savings Account | 0.25% | Again, easy to find information on the website – but lower interest rate. |
| Santander | Flexible Saver for Kids | 0.40% | You have to navigate the site to find accounts for children, but it has very clear information regarding interest rates, etc. |
| Halifax | Children’s Regular Saver | 6.00% * | This account is not instant access, you have to commit to putting away at least £10 a month to guarantee the 6% at the end of the 12 month minimum term. |
| Nationwide | Smart | 0.70% | Now, it is a little difficult to find the pages online initially, but that is purely down to the fact that the there is simply so much information on the site. Much better (but still shocking!) rate of interest. |
I actually decided to go with Santander for ease as this is who we bank with currently (note that word). You have to go into the branch to open the account. My husband and I went in with Ollie on a rare day off work for my husband so that we could open it all together. We are also lucky enough to be in the last batch of parents to get a contribution from the government with the Child Trust Fund Scheme – even though it is a reduced amount of £50 so we had to get that account open as well.
We went in and this bank was desolately quiet – literally no-one in there at all – great, we thought. There was an assistant playing with some tippex at her desk. She made no effort to talk to us. We went up to her and explained we wanted to open a bank account and a child’s trust fund account for our son. Just like a sketch on Little Britain “computer says no….”, she proceed to tell us that they were very busy and there were no appointments left that day. She also said that Santander had ‘got rid’ of the Child Trust Fund account. I did point out that the up until 31st December, the government were still issuing vouchers – but she seemed supremely unconcerned.
We walked straight of Santander and straight into Nationwide to transfer all our own bank accounts, investment accounts and of course set-up Oliver’s savings and Child Trust Fund account – we were served beautifully in there and made to feel very welcome – so well done Santander – two customers lost!
Overall, I am disappointed not only about difficult it is to find out information about Children’s savings accounts but the manner in which they are obviously viewed in the banking institutions, gone are the days when you chose your bank account for life and custom (no matter how small) was valued.
I hope things change in the future, but in the meantime, I will have to be looking into other ways for my little investor to be able to grow his money.
