DO you have a little one about to celebrate a birthday and wonder where they should be putting their cash gifts? (Ditto for Christmas loot?) AIB has finally brought out a small children's account, the first link in a new chain of savings accounts that will begin with infants and graduates to teenagers, college goers and finally young adults.
Called the Junior Saver Account, its most prominent part is a sturdy plastic money box fashioned after an ATM machine. Coins or notes go into the slot at the top, but you need a plastic `swipe' card to open the box, which includes a two digit combination lock. The box proved a great success with three-year-old Jack, who proceeded to fill and unfill it with coppers but older children will enjoy filling in the little deposit slips and bringing the official savings account book to their local bank branch once the box is filled.
AIB is offering an additional 1 per cent interest on Junior Saver Account balances; interest is paid every three months and a Junior Saver birthday card will be sent on every birthday from the age of five. What has not changed is that all interest is still subject to 27 per cent DIRT, which is not refundable. (If ever there was an unfair tax, this is it since the interest earned on a child's account would never exceed their personal tax allowances).
It takes just £1 to open a Junior Saver account. Children under the age of seven can have their account opened by a parent or guardian; over seven they can open the account themselves with written parental authorisation (i.e. the application filled out). Parents can set up regular standing orders from their accounts into the Junior Saver Account or have the monthly children's allowance payment paid directly to the account.