To ask you for everything you know about Child Trust Funds

[vincentseyes]

Hi there,

Posting in AIBU for traffic mostly.

Bit of backstory - I'm 17, 18 early next year. A year or so ago my parent mentioned that I had a Child Trust Fund though she didn't know how much was in it. I'm just wondering how it works, and how much (on average) money there is in it? (obviously unreasonable to ask anything specific, but there's a big difference between £50 and £5000 for my life, though of course I'd be grateful for either).

I'm also wondering if I need any kind of evidence / information. I'm no longer in contact with either of my parents, will that affect anything and do I need to get any information from them to access the money?
Can I look at any account balances before I turn 18, and will the pandemic have affected any of the money in there? Sorry if a stupid question, I'm just not especially knowledgeable on this area of finances.

Was also wondering if the fact that some of the money would go to a house deposit and if it were the majority of the deposit, would that make me less attractive in relation to getting a mortgage? I'm a full time student but I'm married to someone who works full time, and the house might end up in his name depending on my credit score.

If anyone has any info on CTFs, I'd be very grateful. Thank you!
x

Op, it sounds glamourous to have a child trust fund.

But unless they put it in stocks and shares its very unlikely the initial 250, max 500 will have grown by much.

They cannot access it, draw it out, touch it. Except perhaps unless you had passed away and they provided death certificate.

But don't get excited about large figures.
. For money to grow it needs to be added to regularly with a good interest rate or in and shares isa and added to where its likely to grow far more

Good luck op. I assume you have some Id.

From a previous link given:

When your child is 16 or 18

Once your child turns 16, they can either:

• take over the account by contacting theCTFprovider
• leave you in charge of the account

When the child turns 18, they take over the account and can take out the money.

Please put the money in an account with your name on it - a sole or joint account

Yes we get a letter every year just before his birthday so your Mum should have had the same.

As PP's have said, many of the funds were transferred to different companies.

Ds's was originally with The Children's Mutual via my Building Society but was then sold on to Foresters Financial.

My Dsis used a different company but hers was also sold on to Foresters so they seem like quite a big outfit and may well be worth your getting in contact with them

www.foresters.com/

Do you think your Mum is telling the truth regarding having put money in? Obviously it will make a huge difference to what you will get.

@dementedpixie Okay, I'll drop them an email (don't want to head into the branch right now unless it's necessary). When you say "take control", what does that mean? Is that just viewing what goes into the account?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you!

@LEELULUMPKIN we were also with The Children's Mutual to start with.

Take control would mean being able to change providers if you found a better deal e.g. swap to a Junior ISA, etc

@Mokusspokus I've got a UK passport and evidence of where I live, will that be enough ID? Do I need my birth certificate?

@dementedpixie Okay I'll put the money in my personal account, just to be safe. Will my parents be notified if I take control of the account? Trying to be diplomatic and avoid any conflict.

@LEELULUMPKIN My mum's always been on quite a high income (from what I've seen anyway) and she's not got much form for lying, I just want to know if it's possible to have that much in the account within 18 years. When it comes to money she's always been quite generous, so I guess that's good. I guess I'm more worried if she's invested it in the stocks CTF thing, as then it'll be a lot less due to Covid.

@dementedpixie Okay that's interesting, I'll have a look at Junior ISAs as well in case I decide to change to them.

At the minimum though, I'll have £250 off the government? Is that true?

Whatever you do protect your money you an buy house as joint Tennant or tenant in common and I can't remember which one, but one way means you are both equal owners, the other means you own x share and he owns x share.

It sounds like perhaps you ran off with some one your mum felt was unsuitable..

If she's saved that money for you do protect it whatever you d with it. I don't know what your personal circumstances are but you may never see that much money again.

This is on the HSBC website

Yes at the minimum. 250.

@Mokusspokus I know it sounds like that, but my DH actually doesn't have anything to do with it - both parents were very much in favour of our relationship.

I've looked joint tenancy / tenant in common up and it says:

Joint tenants
As joint tenants (sometimes called ‘beneficial joint tenants’):

you have equal rights to the whole property
the property automatically goes to the other owners if you die
you cannot pass on your ownership of the property in your will

Tenants in common
As tenants in common:

you can own different shares of the property
the property does not automatically go to the other owners if you die
you can pass on your share of the property in your will

Joint tenancy looks like the right idea for me and my DH, I think?

Yes the original payment was £250. Think some people got another £250 but that depended on income

@dementedpixie Amazing thank you for that screenshot! I wonder if I can drop them an email instead of call, I don't want to be stuck on hold

@Mokusspokus Okay that's great. Even if I only get £250 (sorry I know saying "only" sounds very entitled, not meaning it to come off that way!) I'll still put it in savings as the beginning of a deposit.

It's certainly possible that it could be the amount she is suggesting.

You can currently invest £9000 per year into it.

At the very least you should get £250, just have that as your ballpark figure and anything above and beyond is a wonderful bonus!

Good luck!

Op my dc and I have stocks and shares isa and plain bank isa.

It depends which funds she invested in, all of mine bar rolls Royce shares, have gone up... One has gone up by nealry 80%.

Ie most funds bounced back reasonably well.

@LEELULUMPKIN I don't think she'll have invested 9k a year, but it might always be supplemented by family I guess. Either way, £250 is still a very nice birthday treat. Thank you for your help, very grateful. xx

My son got his trust fund through last month for him to change all the details.

It was sent to our home address. But it wasn't the same trust fund I had set up for him. It's changed names numerous times.

Otherwise I wouldn't have known how to get in touch with them about it.

Just make sure you legally protect that deposit. For many years and only until recently the yearly limit was half that.

@Mokusspokus That's good to hear - so there's not been a major hit then? I'll admit to having absolutely no knowledge of stocks, so if you have any advice to impart please let me know . xx

@Mokusspokus The yearly limit, what do you mean? And how would I legally protect it? Sorry I'm relatively naive when it comes to money

@KarmaNoMore £1700 sounds grand, honestly - however much it is, I'm gonna put it into savings and then put it towards a deposit right away (to avoid impulse spending!) Hopefully if I'm very lucky it'll be a good amount of money, but I'm trying not to have any expectations, just hopes!

My dd was given £250. To be honest, I thought it was a gimmick and never added to it, just left it with the bank.
According to the the last letter it had lost money and is worth £225.
As I never expected her to receive anything from it, anything is a bonus for her when she turns 18.

£20K could be £100 a month added for 17 years. That would be perfectly realistic for a high earner with a tendency to save. Child benefit for a first child is approx £80 a month, so even just saving that would easily take you into £10K+ territory. If your mum said that was what was in there, and has no form for lying (and I assumed you’ve ruled out a manipulative motive for lying, given the fall out?) then there’s a chance that it is.

Re Covid and the stock market... all depends how it’s invested. A lot of funds took a massive dive in April but have recovered a lot since. So don’t assume it’s lost a lot. Even if it has lost some - it’s still a windfall you’ve not saved for yourself 🤷🏻‍♀️

You MUST get more clued up about property ownership, and divorce, especially in Scotland where it’s different to what you might have picked up from English-centric articles.

You are married at 17, which you means you can’t know your husband all that well. You’ll argue that... but you can’t. I lived with a guy from 16-23, I’m not knocking young relationships. But they have risks, as do all relationships, and as a non earning student I’d be bloody careful about locking away £20K - all my money? - in a house that was jointly owned. At the very least, hold back an “escape fund”. I’d say that if you were 27 or 37 too.

You couldn't always invest £9k per year

@littledrummergirl Okay so there is a risk of it decreasing? Did you go for the stock market CTF in that case?