Bank account for a baby

grahamor

Hi,

We would like to to set up a savings account for our new born baby and looking for any recommendations on what is best regarding interest rates, online access etc.

Thanks for any info.

catrionanic

grahamor wrote: »

Hi,

We would like to to set up a savings account for our new born baby and looking for any recommendations on what is best regarding interest rates, online access etc.

Thanks for any info.

How do you wish to save? If it's regular monthly payments by standing order of a fixed amount per month, statesavings have been the best for several years.

If it's an account to deposit money into at irregular intervals, e.g.. birthdays, then I have no idea what's best but will follow this post, as I've been meaning to set one up for ages.

Orion

I'd say credit union. Regular savings convert it to loan credit - for college for example.

smaoifs

Credit Union. We set one up for our daughter when she was a few weeks old and put any cash gifts she gets in there. Our credit union put in a bonus amount when the baby turns 9 months.

daheff

If you are saving over the long term & have a stomach for volatility, would you consider buying shares(Etfs) each month/quarter and look to have a better long term expected return?

splinter65

You can get the Child Benefit paid into a PO Savings account via an application form that you can pick up in your PO.

pwurple

Avoid the state savings, post office scheme like the plague. The terms and conditions are very painful, and the interest is done in such a way as to ensure you don’t get bang for your buck. We did it for 6 years and would have been better off using an AIB savings account or credit union.

Year one, you get zero interest in a holding account until enough builds up. It is then transferred into a low interest account where it gets feck all, until year 6, when most of the interest accrues in one bang at the very end. Every year, a new account is created, and the holding accounts also have different numbers. You have to track all these individual accounts, and the numbers change as the years progress. Quite complicated.

Then, claiming the funds back. Gah. At the end of the term, it goes into another account where it earns nothing. So you’ve to figure out which of the bunch of accounts on the go are the ones earning nothing that you now need to move somewhere else, claim it (an ORDEAL involving forms, and evidence of this that and the next thing) and continue to track the remaining ones.

We wrapped it up, and you’d swear I was asking them to amputate their arms trying to close the accounts and stop the transfers. Had multiple phone calls to tell me they hadn’t matured etc.



Also, a cautionary tale on setting accounts up in the child’s name. Once they are a certain age, they can walk in and clear it out. So if you are intending it as an education fund , and they want the latest gizmo, you need to keep that account in your own name.


Savings products are poor in general at the moment. Stocks are dipping, ECB rate is zilch. The banks all do some sort of low rate, and that’s what we use at the moment. We considered getting bonds, as they have a higher interest rate... but public clamoring for -burning the bondholders- put us off!

s4uv3

Just a practical note here, as the above poster has said- keep the account in your name.
Once they reach the age where they have full access to it, it could cause some problems. Also, it's a handy savings account to have to show the banks should you ever apply for loans/mortgages etc.

scarepanda

Credit unions give some access to kids at age 7, I think it's cosigning and statements are send out in both names. Kid has full access to account at age 16. This was the reason why we kept the account in my name.