What happens when I turn 18? | Columbia Threadneedle Investments Child Trust Fund

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)

Ahead of your 18th birthday, think about your plans for the money invested. Your parents or guardians could play an important role in helping you decide so its beneficial to discuss your options with them.

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 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

Let us know how you’d prefer us to communicate with you by completing the ‘CTF Update Contact Details Form’.

Let us have your proof if identity and address (full details in the FAQs below).

At 18, you can let us know your decision.

Your Financial Future

How to plan for a future you can’t see yet.

Frequently asked questions

What documents can I send in as verification?

To verify your identity, we can accept

Valid passport
Valid photocard driving licence (full or provisional)
Recent evidence of entitlement to a state or local authority-funded educational or other grant
Most recent HM Revenue and Customs Tax Coding Notification, Assessment or Statement (dated within the last year). If you are working and paying tax, the HMRC will send you a copy of your tax coding notification on request.
A government-issued document that incorporates your full name and photograph and either your residential address or your date of birth.

We then need something that has been sent in the post to your residential address.

A bank or debit card statement which has been issued within the last three months (but not ones printed off the internet). If you don’t normally get these sent in the post, if you contact your bank, they can usually send you a one-off statement.
Utility bill issued within the past three months (but not ones printed off the internet)
Valid photocard driving licence (full or provisional)*
Recent evidence of entitlement to a state or local authority-funded educational or other grant*
Most recent HM Revenue and Customs Tax Coding Notification, Assessment or Statement (dated within the last year)*
A government-issued document that incorporates your full name and photograph and either your residential address or your date of birth*

* We need two documents so you can’t use the same document to confirm both your identity and your address. To verify your bank details, we need something from your bank which has your sort code, account number and account name printed on it e.g.

A bank statement which has been issued within the last three months (but not ones printed off the internet). If you don’t normally get these sent in the post, if you contact your bank, they can usually send you a one-off statement. We can accept the same statement as both proof of your bank details and proof of your address.
A voided cheque (in other words, one that you have scored through and written VOID across it so that nobody could use it)
A pre-printed pay-in slip

We don’t recommend that you send us originals of personal documents in the post. However, you can send us certified copies instead.

What does certified mean?

Certified means that the person who copies your original document needs to confirm that they have seen the original document(s).

To certify a document, the certifier takes a copy of the document.

On each page they need to include

The statement (it can be stamped or handwritten) “I hereby certify this is a true copy of the original”
The date (the certification must be within the last 6 months)
Their signature
If the copy of your photographic identification (e.g. passport) is not clear, they should also state that it is a good likeness of you.

They also need to provide their full name and designation (e.g. job title), badge/reference/registration number if applicable and clearly note their full address details and telephone number. This is because we need to be able to separately confirm their identity e.g. through a professional register

Who can certify my documents?

We can only accept documents certified by people with certain professions. They cannot be someone related to you. They could be a family friend and they need to be currently practicing (e.g. not retired)

The certifiers we can accept are:

A judge or a magistrate
A senior civil servant
A serving police or customs officer
A commissioner for oaths
An officer of an embassy, consulate or high commission of the country or territory of issue of documentary evidence of identity
A lawyer, notary public or legal executive who is a member of a recognised professional body
An actuary who is a member of a recognised professional body
An accountant who is a member of a recognised professional body
A member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
A director or officer (working within the Legal or Compliance office) of a regulated financial firm
The UK Post Office certification service, with details of the individual certifier

The certifier should sign and date each document, and state on each document

Their name, address and telephone number
The capacity in which they are certifying the documents
Their firm if applicable
Their badge/reference/registration number if possible

What if I don't know someone in one of those professions?

Unlike when you apply for a passport, the person certifying your documents doesn’t need to know you personally.

If you don’t know someone that you can ask either personally or professionally, the Post Office offer a certification service for a small fee.

We don’t recommend that you send us originals of documents such as a passport or drivers’ licence in the post. However, you may feel more comfortable sending us original documents such as tax notices or bank statements.

What happens if I don't provide verification?

The account will remain open and any funds already received will remain invested. You can transfer to another account within CT. However, you cannot add further payments to or withdraw funds out of the account (including transferring to another provider). Online access to your account may also be restricted.

If we don’t have proof of your bank details, then if you make a withdrawal, we send the proceeds to you by cheque to your registered address.

How do I send the documents to you?

Find out more

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What happens to your CTF when you're 18