Setting Up Savings For Niece

zompea

I know back in the day the thing was you would set up a post office savings book for a niece of nephew and pop into the post office with the few pound whenever you had it.

What's the modern equivalent?

I am looking to make a savings account that I can direct debit drop €5 per month into an account that she can have when she's 18.

ec18

zompea wrote: »

I know back in the day the thing was you would set up a post office savings book for a niece of nephew and pop into the post office with the few pound whenever you had it.

What's the modern equivalent?

I am looking to make a savings account that I can direct debit drop €5 per month into an account that she can have when she's 18.

you can still do that afaik, maybe credit union? or std bank account with no fees so at least it won't be actively losing money thru fees

unhappys10

I set one up when my daughter was born.
Used the local credit union. I have a direct debit for 100 a month going in and her child benefit gets paid in also.

It's a joint account with me until she's 7 and then it's fully hers. I don't plan on telling her about it until she's in her 20's at least.

Not sure how it will work seeing as she isn't your daughter, as in if you can set up a joint account with her. But I don't see why you couldn't set one up in her name and just setup a direct debit your end.

You'll need pps number for her either way and if it's something you don't want her to know about you'd have to make sure no statements etc ever get sent out to her, may be a paperless option.

Edit: as said below, if parents have an account you could just transfer into that? Danger parents may raid it though at some stage :pac:

TheChizler

Maybe coordinate with the parents. I have several accounts with £50 in them that various relatives set up on my behalf that nobody remembers anything about apart from their existence, not even which bank.

GerardKeating

zompea wrote: »

I am looking to make a savings account that I can direct debit drop €5 per month into an account that she can have when she's 18.

unhappys10 wrote: »

I set one up when my daughter was born.
Used the local credit union. I have a direct debit for 100 a month going in and her child benefit gets paid in also.

My local credit union has a interest rate of zero on deposits

An AIB Junior saver acocunt pays 2.00% on the first €1,000, and 0.01% on the remaining balance.

BoI did pay 2.5% on the first €5,000, but it get reduced to 0.25% in November.

EBS pay 1.75% on the first five grand for Child/Teen accounts at present.

Otherwise State Savings accounts, but they pay 0.95%.

JTMan

GerardKeating wrote: »

EBS pay 1.75% on the first five grand for Child/Teen accounts at present.

Otherwise State Savings accounts, but they pay 0.95%.

The EBS product reduces to 1% in November.

The State Savings product is a 6 year deposit effectively but for many its the best option in terms of return.

As far as I know, you can't really set something like this up on your own accord anymore due to Anti-Money Laundering requirements.

You'll usually need to provide proof of ID and address to open an account. As the child probably wont have proof of address, you'd need proof of ID and address for one of the parents too. It will differ slightly per institution but generally it isn't possible to open an account in the child's name without the help of the parents, due to these documentation requirements. Data protection consent forms will also often require a signature from a parent.

The alternative is to open an account in your own name and eventually gift the money to the child; however, this could have tax implications.