Has anybody managed to transfer or withdraw money from a child's bank account?
A few years ago I opened an account with the cantonal bank (BCV) for my daughter and paid in a few hundred CHF every month, believing that I had done the best for her. I soon realised that it was earning a measly 1% interest and the 40CHF incentive that they had given me to open the account was really a cheap way of locking all the money up with them for 18 years. In hindsight I really should have just opened an investment account and invested in cheap ETFs.
It seems that you can only withdraw money from a bank account if it is in the interest of the child. I consider that it is precisely in he interest of the child for it to be invested in a way to achieve the best growth rate but it seems that BCV doesn't agree and that I may even have to apply to the court for it to be released and prove that I'm not going to buy a sportswear or something. There is about 4k CHF in the account at the moment. Not a huge amount but it's more the principle. I don't like the fact that it is inaccessible and growing below the rate of inflation.
My question is - has anybody managed to withdraw / transfer money from a child account to somewhere where the money might actually grow? Do you really need to apply to the local court, or is there a more straightforward option?
Thanks very much for all the information on this site. Excellent and very useful blog. I have learnt a lot and cancelled my 3A with life insurance package just last week.
James
A few years ago I opened an account with the cantonal bank (BCV) for my daughter and paid in a few hundred CHF every month, believing that I had done the best for her. I soon realised that it was earning a measly 1% interest and the 40CHF incentive that they had given me to open the account was really a cheap way of locking all the money up with them for 18 years. In hindsight I really should have just opened an investment account and invested in cheap ETFs.
It seems that you can only withdraw money from a bank account if it is in the interest of the child. I consider that it is precisely in he interest of the child for it to be invested in a way to achieve the best growth rate but it seems that BCV doesn't agree and that I may even have to apply to the court for it to be released and prove that I'm not going to buy a sportswear or something. There is about 4k CHF in the account at the moment. Not a huge amount but it's more the principle. I don't like the fact that it is inaccessible and growing below the rate of inflation.
My question is - has anybody managed to withdraw / transfer money from a child account to somewhere where the money might actually grow? Do you really need to apply to the local court, or is there a more straightforward option?
Thanks very much for all the information on this site. Excellent and very useful blog. I have learnt a lot and cancelled my 3A with life insurance package just last week.
James