What happens to your CTF when you're 18
There’s a few things to take care of before you turn 18.
Your CTF will mature when you turn 18
At 18, your Child Trust Fund turns into a matured CTF account. It will still have the same benefits and charges as before, but we can’t accept new payments into the matured CTF and any direct debits will stop around your 18th birthday.
The matured CTF remains the same as before until you tell us what you want to do with the invested money. The annual charges on the account remain the same as before (£25+VAT on a shares account or 0.7% of investments for a stakeholder account).
You’ll receive a letter from us before your 18th birthday setting out your options and asking you to make a decision, which you can tell us once you are 18. You can sign in or register yourself if you haven’t already here & take care of your CTF online.
Or if you need to, you can download and fill out the CTF maturity election form and send it back to us whatever decision you take with your account.
Taking care of a few things before you turn 18 (or soon after)
Although we can’t accept an instruction about the future of your investment until you’re 18, there’s a couple of things you can do right away.
Tell us how you’d prefer us to communicate with you
Until now, we’ve mainly dealt with your parent or guardian but once you’re 18, we’ll communicate directly with you. Complete and return this form, so that we have your contact details.
We need to know where you live, especially if this is different to your parent’s address, as we’ll need you to provide proof of your address (there’s more information about that below).
Providing proof of your identity
We need you to send us documents to prove your identity and where you live. This is an important step and it ensures we know who you are, and it ensures only you have access to the funds that have built up for you. Until this step is complete, you can’t take money out or add any new investments.
You may also want to send us proof of your bank details. This allows us to make future withdrawals directly into your bank account and/or set up future regular investments from that account.
You can send these documents into us now or when you’re ready to make your decision about what to do with your account.
A reminder of the admin steps
