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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

in asking you to sign this e-petition about child trust funds

29 replies

lasagne · 25/11/2011 21:01

for all those children who had child trust funds (like my two) who will lose out with the introduction of the new Junior ISAs - they cannot invest in them, but the existing providers of child trust funds have no incentive to provide a good service as there will be no new investors. epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/7468

OP posts:

PinkCanary · 25/11/2011 22:49

I totally agree! I'm furious that all the money that family and friends have generously contributed to my 8 yr old DD's future is now STUCK in a fund that will be treated as 2nd rate by the building societies that hold it.

troisgarcons · 25/11/2011 22:55

Well - TBH - that was another Liebour vote hooker . Another tax I paid that none of my children befefited from.

PinkCanary · 25/11/2011 23:05

I didn't ask for the government contribution and would happily give it back for the freedom to move my daughters savings to the best available account.

PinkCanary · 25/11/2011 23:08

FWIW I thought the government contributions were an awful idea. At the time however we were advised that the best place to put all her birthday / Xmas money was in a CTF.

slavetofilofax · 25/11/2011 23:15

You made the choice and took the risk putting money in there. You could have done what the rest of us who didn't get free money for our dc's savings account do. Mine are only 9 and 11, and we didn't get CTF's so we opened a savings account.

flyingspaghettimonster · 25/11/2011 23:16

Does anyone know what happened to the child trust fund if you never bothered setting one up with the 'cheque'? We were moving countries and forgot about it until the cheque was out of date... did the government just keep the money or set up something on their own for the child? How would I find out?

ouryve · 25/11/2011 23:21

They invested it for you, but how you would find out where, since the letter informing you would have gone to your old address, I have no idea.

ChocHobNob · 25/11/2011 23:23

I always remember being told never to add money to the CTF but to set up a separate savings account.

littleducks · 25/11/2011 23:27

I did as ChocHobNob says having being advised (Money Saving Expert?) the same.

I am a bit peeved I cant set up a junior isa if they really are going to be good. I set up a CTF account for dd, ds had his set up by the government...you couldnt really opt out

FFSEnid · 25/11/2011 23:30

But the point is children born in this 5 year window are ineligible to open a junior isa, they are stuck with a CTF, which are shit. These children aren't eligible to do what everyone else can do. The CTF didn't have an opt out, everyone thought they were stupid but largely harmless but now they are stuck with a worthless scheme.

cookcleanerchaufferetc · 26/11/2011 07:31

At the end of the day it is just the way the cookie crumbles. People who missed out on the CTF were probably pissed off. People who missed out on top ups at 7 were probably pissed off. Now you missing out on the Junior ISA is pissing you off. There will be something else in 5 years time and another group of people will be pissed off.

It was clearly a risk to top up the CTF from the beginning. But you still have the £250 or whatever the government gave you for free. Plus of course the interest it has made which could equate to several hundred pounds.

NinkyNonker · 26/11/2011 07:51

We were given the 50, haven't done anything with it.

Can she not use a child ISA? Grandparents were on at us to set one up, but we have done an independent savings account anyway.

thereistheball · 26/11/2011 07:54

I believe that there is a white paper working its way through government that, if passed, will change this. Don't know more than that, sorry.

Gigondas · 26/11/2011 07:54

I spoke to bank about this - rules aren't final but man st bank seemed to think you could add to a child isa if you have ctf . He said that the 1200 pa (ow whatever it is) for ctf can be deducted off 3k isa limit. Did say that was just initial view and detailed rules aren't out yet.

Gigondas · 26/11/2011 07:55

X posts ball - sounds like bank man was talking about that paper

TroublesomeEx · 26/11/2011 07:55

Well we were given £250 for DDs CTF 5 years ago.

It's currently worth a fair bit less than it was, and has been worth less every year.

We've never paid a penny extra in because it was a silly idea.

NinkyNonker · 26/11/2011 07:59

We didn't want or use the ctf, would be annoying to have the choice removed.

LisasCat · 26/11/2011 08:00

I must be missing something fundamental here, because I don't see why there's such a big problem with the CTF. DD1 has one, and we've topped it up quite a bit over the last 4 years, as have family and friends. The return on our investment has been minimal, but then so has it on my pension fund. The economy's been shit.

DD2 now has a Junior ISA, which is only a month old at the moment, so too early to compare.

But why is the CTF such a bad idea? I don't believe that the company has no incentive to invest it wisely. Because the same companies that run the CTFs are now running the ISAs, so it's in their interest to demonstrate sound fiscal capability with the CTFs to encourage younger siblings to have an ISA with them.

Or am I wide of the mark?

Blatherskite · 26/11/2011 08:04

You had no choice with the CTFs, if you chose not to invest then the government invested it for you. I never liked the idea of having the money completely out of our control and have therefore never put another penny in the DC's accounts, we have a separate savings account for them instead.

It's very unfair that they're going to be stopped from having a Child ISA now. They're going to be a much better option by the sounds of things. The CTFs are doing really badly and both are worth less now then when they opened, I'd trade them in for the right to open an cISA in an instant.

planetpotty · 26/11/2011 08:05

flyingsgaghettimonster

This happened to me with my first I went on the CTF website and rang them they used the CB number to track it.

Basically "so no child misses out" they chose a bank for you and it's there in your DCs name took about ten mins to sort after they gave mr the banks name (engage mutual) I rang them and hey presto all sorted disorganised mum redeems herself!

planetpotty · 26/11/2011 08:05

-strikeout fail mum redeems herself-

planetpotty · 26/11/2011 08:06

Or maybe not

Rikalaily · 26/11/2011 08:06

All three of my girls got it, ds didn't, I've not added to the girls accounts and I'm glad I didn't, they are worth less than was put in there. If the government want the money back I would tell them to take it, was a stupid idea to give it out in the first place, next to worthless and in 18 years it will be worthless.

roulade · 26/11/2011 08:12

Surely they are only worth less if you chose the investment option? We just chose the basic savings option as we didn't want the risk of ds losing any money so it is all still there with the (minimal) interest added.

Rikalaily · 26/11/2011 08:36

I didn't choose the option, I just left the government to decide who to invest it with, dd1 & dd2 are with Abbey and dd3 is with a comapny I've never heard of.

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