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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why I signed something at the bank at 9 years old?

29 replies

Libertyy · 25/11/2023 15:17

My parents took me to a branch in the 2000s and the man behind the counter showed me something probably a letter or a form I’m not sure what it was or what it even said and my parents told me to sign it. I remember this so vividly but I signed it anyway without knowing to ask questions. Now my mum is going back on her word and saying I wouldn’t have been asked to sign anything. So I’m curious what this could have been as it definitely happened. My first thought was maybe I wanted to sign something so they let me but they would have just said that

OP posts:
tenbob · 25/11/2023 15:19

Opening a bank account?

KaiserChefs · 25/11/2023 15:21

Well it's unlikely to be a cover-up where you mysteriously signed away a multi-billion-pound inheritance to your parents. 🤣

More likely it was such an unremarkable event to them that they totally forgot it ever happened.

oishutup · 25/11/2023 15:21

My parents took us to a bank around the same time when all the building societies were being taken over. They got £500 for every account that was moved across I think. We never had anything to do with it again but it was an easy £500. Could it have been that?

mugofstew · 25/11/2023 15:22

A child's saving account maybe?
Your signature wouldn't have an legal weight at that age but they might have wanted you to have a sense of ownership.

Babybelle23 · 25/11/2023 15:23

Might have been to get one of those banging NatWest pigs. Or am I just old af

alexdgr8 · 25/11/2023 15:23

probably a child's bank account.
i had one with TSB through junior school when i was 7.
a lady from the bank used to come to school monday mornings and set up her table in the hall and we junior savers went with our little books and odd shilling.
it was a v good idea.
parents had to sign our savings book to start us off.
it was optional of course.

Cheepcheepcheep · 25/11/2023 15:24

I mean,- five year olds signature counts for fuck all legally, so I’m going to assume it was ‘to make you feel grown up’

Mercurial123 · 25/11/2023 15:24

That's major overthing OP.

alexdgr8 · 25/11/2023 15:26

you sound oddly suspicious OP. why? is there a back story?
are you alleging your parents involved you in some international fraud or money laundering practice ?

Mercurial123 · 25/11/2023 15:30

It's also such a non-event that's why she doesn't remember.

Reallybadidea · 25/11/2023 15:31

Now my mum is going back on her word

In what way?

Dotjones · 25/11/2023 15:32

What do you mean by your mum "going back on her word"? It sounds like she's just forgotten an irrelevant incident from a long time ago.

marylou25 · 25/11/2023 15:37

Did you have a bank account as a child? Either on your own or jointly with a parent? Either way it's pretty harmless irrelevant stuff, some banks want over 7s to sign themselves, others don't and leave it at parents. They may have closed the account years ago if there was one, I know I opened a couple of different accounts for my son way back when and not a hope would I remember when or if I brought him in to sign something. A local bank used to have special kids savings stuff that you could get a pack of if you opened an account for £1, could have been something like that, the account was often never used again!

OhNoOhNo · 25/11/2023 15:37

Your memory could be playing tricks. There are things I could swear blindly had happened, only to realise later they hadn’t.

Redglitter · 25/11/2023 15:43

Now my mum is going back on her word and saying I wouldn’t have been asked to sign anything

Shes not going back on her word - that doesn't even make sense in this situation - but she just clearly doesn't remember it. It was probably a big thing for you, being asked to sign something so you remember it. For her it was probably just one of hundreds of minor things she did involving her children & it's not made an impact

I frequently remember things from my childhood that my Mum has forgotten

You just have different priorities & different memories. She's not keeping some big secret from you. You're seriously over thinking it

Strawberrycocktail · 25/11/2023 15:43

Something similar happened to me when I was a bit older than that. My Dad had invested money with the Prudential. I think it was some sort of trust fund for when I reached a certain age, I would guess at 18. When I was 17 he needed the money and was going through a divorce with my mum. I remember the man from the Pru saying he strongly advised against cashing the fund in at that point but my Dad insisting and asking me to sign! Oddly he then never cashed the cheque and I found it in his draw many years later. Never knew what was going on to be honest but as I was a minor I did what my Dad wanted and figured it wasn't my place to question it. At age 9 you would have been even less questioning. Who knows what you signed but if it was not opening a savings account then might it have been cashing in a trust fund that was invested for you because they needed the money? At worst that might have been invested by a relative for you but only you could know if that might happen and if your parents might have hit difficult times financially! It could have been an investment they made for you but then realised they needed the money and had to cash it in. Unless you have a super rich relative who might have donated a big sum of money to you the chances are it was either you opening a child bank account or your parents realising they needed to recoup some savings they had put in your name because the hit hard times.

BertieBotts · 25/11/2023 15:44

You either opened a savings account or they gave you a bit of paper to sign to feel grown up and then threw it away when you'd left.

BertieBotts · 25/11/2023 15:45

I think with children's savings accounts the parents actually have control anyway. So it's not like they would have needed you to sign.

LIZS · 25/11/2023 15:46

I remember signing for National Savings certificates as a child.

snowlady4 · 25/11/2023 15:47

Not weird. I signed things in the bank as a child. Remember it clearly.Used to get given cheques from relatives at christmas etc and had to sign the back of those too. I remember because I used to sign with a flower above the i and a smiley face in the y!- when i was about 14 i opted for a more "grown up," signature and the bank wouldn't let me change it!

Alalalalalongalalalalalonglonglilong · 25/11/2023 15:49

My 10 yr old withdrew money yesterday and had to sign for it. I was asked to co sign. I thought it was a good life experience lesson. We opened the account when he was 8 and I remember him signing then too.

2jacqi · 25/11/2023 16:09

funnily enough I cannot open a bank account for my 15 year old grandchilds pocket money!!! did not want father to know because he wants to know where ever single penny goes. He gives £20 per week and the gc has to pay all school dinners, clothes, music things, hygiene products, toiletries, make up and bloody school books too!!!

WeeOrcadian · 25/11/2023 16:10

I'm just here for the inevitable back-story

There's more to this

What gives OP?

machanicalmovement · 25/11/2023 16:17

Because you opened account?

Kedece · 25/11/2023 16:37

Who knows what you signed but if it was not opening a savings account then might it have been cashing in a trust fund that was invested for you because they needed the money? At worst that might have been invested by a relative for you but only you could know if that might happen and if your parents might have hit difficult times financially! It could have been an investment they made for you but then realised they needed the money and had to cash it in

If the OP was 9 her parents would surely be in control of any trust fund etc. There's no way a 9 year old would be allowed to be an actual signatory on an account