To object to school opening a bank account for all pupils unless we "opt out"?

[Asinine]

Our school, like most schools, regularly produces crazy missives designed to wind up, irritate and stress out parents. The stuff of many past AIBU threads : dressing up at short notice, baking, sponsored events, template generated report cards, adverts for expensive activities and outings etc. I thought I'd developed an immunity to it all now I'm on dc4, just try not to read it and throw it in the recycling or pay up when unavoidable.

but this has got me

The infant school is opening a savings account with a local credit union in your child's name unless you sign a form to opt out. The children bring money to school on a certain day, and can withdraw it on a certain day. There is no mention of interest rate, which is not the point but still strange.

Oh and they get a free money box and £2 to start.

I don't see why the school thinks it should be interfering with how we handle money at home. The government already opened an account for her when she was born. If I got a letter eg from Halifax saying "we've opened a bank account for you unless you opt out in the next three days, btw interest rate information is not available" I would be
The juniors do this already, but it was an opt in which was more aceptable (throw letter away as normal).
So my dc will feel left out because she won't get a money box etc or a sticker for being a "good saver". Which makes her a bad non saver, I suppose.
So AIBU to object to having to opt out of this scheme?
Or is it just PMT?

I had a Bradford & Bingley account from the age of about 7 (opened for me by my parents).

My (high) school did a scheme with TSB which I didn't participate in and I must admit I always felt a bit left out, but I had my own savings account anyway.

To be fair I can understand why my parents opted out - sending ££ to school could be dodgy, and trying to find the right change on a morning as well as everything else that needs doing, would be a bit of a hassle.

I don't understand how it would be possible to open the account in the name of a child without the parent's approval, so it would HAVE to be opt-in surely?

In the absence of a bit of paper saying "no thanks" (and bits of paper go missing easily enough) how can they go ahead and assume consent for something involving a bank account?

I agree credit unions or banks or whatever are building brand loyalty right from the first money box so I'd be a bit even though encouraging saving is a good thing.

I just don't think this lesson works! If most of us had savings accounts in primary/secondary, or had pocket money as children, how come as a nation we are more in debt than ever? I don't think my saving aged 14 had any effect on my financial personality later in life. It's just another way of schools looking like they are doing something 'real world' without improving teaching(who really can't open a bank account apart from illiterate individuals who have been failed by the school system?)

Still, I don't object to it being offered and everyone else bring up a nation of savers.

" agree credit unions or banks or whatever are building brand loyalty right from the first money box"

There is no "brand loyalty" with a credit union!! There are no vast profits, and huge bonuses, and making money for other people off the back of your savings. Yes other people do benefit from you (or your child) having their money saved with a Credit Union - they benefit (in your local community) from being able to take out a small loan from a reputable place - where often their only other alternative is Provident and the likes of...........

YANBU and though I frankly can't be bothered to look into the rules, I'm pretty sure you need a signature to open an account so this doesn't sound legit.

Sorry, ie, so opt out doesn't work... must sign up.

This isn't really saving, it's squirrelling. Saving your money in a bank acc, unless it's an ISA, isn't financially sensible long term if that's what they're trying to encourage. Saving for most children has more meaning when it's targeted rather than just handing over cash and watching it mount up.

Or do they start exploring fixed term bonds in Juniors and introduce an equities option at secondary?

An an aside - why don't you ask your school to offer email newsletters for those parents who have regulr access to their email account.........it's worked really well at our infant school.

just having googled the Credit Union Junior Savings schemes - seems a lot of them have small prizes for reaching milestones and certificates for regular saving too.

Sadly our only local credit union doesn't even have any Junior Savings schemes - let alone one for schools.

I would definitely opt out of this too.

My two already have their own bank accounts so its not as if I don't think saving is important but I think with kids that young I'd rather have a little piggy bank in their room where they can see how much they have and have a target of something they want like a small toy, then when they have saved enough they can see that saving meant they got what they wanted.

My school had something similar in the 80s and everyone took their 50p each week for all of two weeks and then it tailed off. I never felt sorry that I wasn't part of it.

Plus, if I ended up going somewhere exciting as a treat I could just run into my room and raid my piggy bank, I didn't have to wait 'til Monday and ask the teacher for some money!

I think it makes a huge difference that it's a Credit Union and not a standard bank or building society. I would object if it were a profit making company because they do want to sow the seed of loyalty as young as possible. For those commenting about interest rates - they are starting them off with £2, whether they choose to save anything at all. That's a pretty good return.

Hmmm - I'm really not sure whether they're allowed to do this under the Data Protection Act.

Not an expert so don't all jump on me but it's to do with the use of personal information - i.e. the school will hold your child's Date of Birth. They will no doubt use that information to open a bank account for your child. However you never gave them permission to use your child's information in that way so highly dodgy in my opinion.

I would be very pissed off at this to be honest. Can you speak to the Local Education Authority?

To be clear - I think the school may be acting illegally.

But the school are giving them the option to opt out?

OK I didn't spot that it wasnt a bank.

How quickly could a child take out the £2 and then close the account?

Children's accounts in banks and building societies are tax-free so should acquire £2 in interest quite quickly.

I suspect this a 0% interest rate account from what I can gather by googling.

Perhaps this helps:

www.moneymadeclear.org.uk/pdfs/credit_unions.pdf

I worked for a bank - we actually had to stop doing the school banking due to the current climate.....all the staff would have had to have disclosure to just allow us to get through the school doors. A shame really, because the accounts were all correct bank accounts, the kids saved into them, and we had no regulations about when the money could be withdrawn. No teachers had the account details, just each kiddie with a little passbook....

But children can learn about money without having to take it into school each week.

Perhaps OK for those who want a savings account for their child but can´t be arsed to do it themselves/get to a bank easily.

The DWP appears to advocate them: www.dwp.gov.uk/other-specialists/now-lets-talk-money/case-studies/credit-union/#rent

Anyway, very interesting thread. I have to go to work so bye for now.

We had this in our primary school too with a bank. The idea was to encourage saving and provide people with a banking history if they wanted a mortgage. It was very very difficult to get a mortgage at one time. One thing that helped was a long history of saving with a bank.

With the credit union the children will learn about saving money. But credit unions also give small loans on very low interest rates. You can only get these if you have been saving for a while with them. So this could be helpful to the children in the future.

I think as it's a credit union it's a great idea.

I have opened a building society account for DD and she has her trust fund as well. She won't be getting her hands on these until she is 17/18 though.

I would have no objections to her joining in a scheme like this at school for 'pocket money' saving and if her school doesn't offer one, I will sort it out myself.

I still have my Natwest Pigs from my account when I was a kid. I still remember the account hitting £100 and getting the Daddy pig!

Oh and Personal Finance Education will be compulsary for all Primary aged kids from September 2011, so schemes like this are just a practical aspect of that.

I think it is a good idea. I don't understand what there is to be cross about at all. it is a small sum and they learn that if they save x amount a week then the can buy y with the money.

The sad fact is that a lot of parents are not proactive and involved with their children so schools do a lot of 'life lessons' with kids.

Credit unions sound like a good thing with a social purpose. Thanks to this thread I have learnt a lot about them today. Saving is also to be encouraged and children should definitely be financially educated through school in a way appropriate to their age.

But
I still object to being signed up for something in this way. If a bank or credit union did this type of marketing to adults the FSA or someone would get involved. eg If you got a piece of junk mail saying "Mrs X! Congratulations, we will be opening an account in your name with £2 in it unless you reply to this letter within 3 days, we will also send you a free pen, interest rate unknown, but don't worry our ethics are good and we don't make a profit." would you really be fine with that?