Has anyone tried to buy premium bonds for grandchildren?

Thanks everyone for your replies. They have given me something to think about. Hopefully I'll be able to start saving for my grandchildren soon. I think it's a question of perseverance.

Kateykrunch

We buy and top up the Grandchildrens Premium Bonds online and without any difficulty.

I was definitely told by the woman I spoke to that this was not possible. Maybe I should ask again.

Bossyrossy

Saving for grandchildren if they live abroad is even more complicated as it rules out lots of saving schemes. I would love to know of a system whereby you can save regular amounts for children not domiciled in the U.K.

I'm planning to open a regular savings account for my grandson with Halifax but they need a copy of his birth certificate and need my son or DiL to sign something. They live in Germany, so I'm waiting until they come to the UK to sort it out as they need a UK address for the info to be sent to. They will be returning to live in the UK in a couple of years, so once it's set up, hopefully this summer, I'll add to it by standing order and will be able to manage it all until they are back in the UK permanently. I'm not sure if it would be possible if they were abroad permanently.

Easier to get parents to do it!

I check premium bonds for myself and 2 adult children. Admittedly not a large amount. All are over 40 years old. I won once, a sum of £90 about 25 years ago. My daughter and son have never had a win.

I think Ernie has forgotten about us!

When my Mum died I invested a substantial amount in an ISA divisible by 4, so equal amounts to each grandchild.

I have complete control of the money and the first quarter has gone to eldest GD to support her during her Uni years by way of a standing order into her bank account. When Uni was finished and she got a job, I gave her the balance of her share to put towards a deposit on a house/flat/tent/yurt/igloo.

I am now working through the second quarter with her brother and his Uni life.

The other two are not at that stage of life yet, but it's there when they need it.

The bonus is that I get the interest once a year which is not to be sneezed at.

Generally premium bonds are rubbish, you don't get interest on them and rarely (unless you have at least £10k worth) win anything.

A savings account opened by the GP in the child's name is the best option but you will need to tell the parents you want to do this because you'll need the child's birth certificate to open the account. Then, at the age of 7, the child should go to the bank/building society and put their signature on the account, which basically takes the GP's name off it but you'll still be able to make deposits to it.

If you want to keep the account safe so the child can't access it until an age of your choosing, they still need to sign it at 7 but you could withhold the paying in book (not exactly ethical/legal but many GP's do it).

I do JISAs - junior ISA, pay in each month

The reason I didn’t open Premium Bond accounts for my grandchildren was in case one won substantially. In a way that would be awful and could cause upset between the grandchildren and possibly the parents. You think it might not cause problems but money often does.
I save for the grandchildren in Metro bank, when the kids were younger we used to go in and pay a monthly sum. It’s a very friendly bank, the children got a gift each month and a lolly. The account pays reasonable interest and a £5 bonus six monthly. Now I pay by direct debit for them. Not a lot, just £20 a month each but it mounts up and they get weekly pocket money too .

I tried but they would not accept my granddaughters birth certificate, never found out why. We have premium bonds but I give my son regular amounts to put in her savings bank now.

The issue with putting assets on the name of a minor is that it may have an impact on the taxes of the parents, college financial aid if they apply for scholarships, etc

This is the case at least for the US, not sure for the UK.

I had problems trying to buy premium bonds for my grandchildren which were similar to those already mentioned. My son bought them in the end and I reimbursed him. They were a one off Christening gift so I won’t be adding to them.

Saving for grandchildren if they live abroad is even more complicated as it rules out lots of saving schemes. I would love to know of a system whereby you can save regular amounts for children not domiciled in the U.K.

I bought premium bonds for my grandson three years ago and that was reasonably straightforward but maybe the security criteria has changed since then.

Seemingly, banks and building societies have had to tighten up on deposits by family members into accounts for children - something to do with money laundering apparently.

I tried to set up a Junior Isa or savings account with a building society for my grandson ....I have never seen him, and doubt I ever will, since my daughter cut off all contact 14 years ago (I traced her online, and saw she was married with at least the one child) I send her cards birthday, Christmas, etc etc ....never acknowledged of course ...SO I thought well, that for some reason is her choice BUT why should the grandson suffer ? I went to my building society and bank...even asked my solicitor ....no, you cannot set up these accounts without the parent's permission and you have to know his date of birth ...neither of which I can provide I guess he would be around 6 now ......I could mention him in my Will but since my solicitor has been told that unless my daughter ever gets in touch with me she is not included in my Will she will not benefit .......was told she could contest Will...ha ha ...it would appear from one of her friends that she has told people I died some years ago .......and as she has no idea where I live now she has to find out first ................so it is a real shame he cannot benefit because of his mother ...........

I have been buying premium bonds for my GC for the last 15 years and have never had a problem. I used to print off a form from the website now I just do it online.

We buy premium bonds for our 3 grandchildren every birthday . You can now do it on line . Once you done the first application with the name of a responsible parent and their signature ( I think that has to be sent by post ) you just fill the same details in each time ( the parent does not need to sign each time ) . You will get a copy of for each investment so will have the bond numbers .We've asked for any winnings to be re invested as little as £25 can be reinvested. It does seem daft that as grandparents we can't save for our grandkids .

I save for my two with Halifax. The money goes into a higher interest account for a year after which is transferred into another savings account, which unfortunately has a lower rate. It looks after itself and all happens automatically, with direct debits going from my account. You can top up the lower rate account with ad hoc payments. I did have to take their birth certificates with me, but it was all relatively easy to set up.

I paid for Premium Bonds for my Grandson and it was then up to my son to send in the documents. He didn't do it in time and so the money was paid back into the account I made the payment from. As I had used my husband's account, I didn't notice this and neither did he so the money was inadvertently spent. It was a disaster I won't repeat.

I recently read an article which mentioned the possibility of a child winning a large sum on PBS. Apparently the top prize of £1million has been won by 14 (or thereabouts) children and that is why I won’t buy them for grandchildren.

I attempted to buy premium bonds 18 months ago for three of my grandchildren,absolute nightmare,gave it up in the end ??‍♀️

Our daughter set up our GD's account and we pay it monthly.

I've got children's accounts with Halifax. Parents are informed on opening but it just comes off a s direct debit from my account into theirs. Had to send photo of birth certificate and they are fussy about that. Rejected DGD's as didn't show corners.

I too have considered PBs for my 2 dgc but have not bought any for the reason mentioned above by a couple of previous posters. You only have to go on mumsnet to see the problems caused by sibling rivalry and jealousy and it seems that some on Gransnet have also experienced this problem.

I would not want to be the person who, through trying to provide for dgcs' futures unwittingly made a massive financial gap between them. Of course, once they are in the world of work and adult partnerships financial inequality occurs but Grandparents, like parents, usually feel that as far as it lies with them they will at least give an equal financial start to all of them.

I only have 2 and if any winnings could be divided equally between them I would go ahead. The only way to do this I suppose is to put them in our own names and open individual accounts for the dgc where any winnings are placed separately to the pb accounts.

My DS opened accounts for our DGC and we pay regular amounts every month. It is more tax efficient than giving a lump sum later.