Frequently asked questions for account holders

If your child has a Child Trust Fund (CTF) or a stocks & shares Junior ISA then you must transfer it to Beanstalk as under HMRC rules a child is not allowed to hold a CTF and a Junior ISA, or more than one stocks & shares Junior ISA. If your child has a cash Junior ISA, then there is no need to transfer it, but you may do so if you wish. Please contact us if your child has additional accounts you would like to transfer to Beanstalk.

It is simple. You complete the transfer authorisation form we send you and return to us via "FREEPOST KIDSTART". If you do not have access to a printer, we can send you a paper copy in the post. We then contact the existing provider who have 30 days to complete the transfer to us (in practice it usually it takes 2-3 weeks). We will keep you up to date throughout the process and inform you when the transfer is completed.

You can "trigger" a top up /set up a regular contribution through the app, but we must complete the transfer before we can take any contributions so we will collect these by Direct Debit after that point We will contact you when the transfer is complete and after this point you can make contributions whenever you want.

We have a simple guide to help parents locate a missing CTF. Please see here.

Depending on the amount and whether your account set up is finalised, you can choose from three ways to make a top up i) Instant bank transfer linked to your online bank, ii) Bank transfer where you send the top up yourself or iii) via Direct Debit. The timing varies depending on the method you choose but also please see link for how to view recent contributions.

Instant and direct Bank Transfer:

Timing varies by bank but the top up will normally be taken from your bank account within a few minutes (although it may be later if out of hours or if the bank is doing additional checks).

The money arrives with our platform provider at the same time, but it goes into a "pooled" client money account before being allocated to your specific Beanstalk account. The allocation happens several times during the day so you will not see it in your account until after this process. You will normally see it by end of the day, but top ups made at the end of the day or at the weekend may not show until the next working day.

Direct Debit:

We collect top ups trigged via Direct Debit once a week, normally on Monday (or if a holiday, the next working day after). Under Direct Debit rules, we provide you with 5 working days notice by email of the exact collection date so it will usually be collected on the Monday week after you requested the top up. You will see the amount in your Beanstalk account as Pending after it has been collected for 2-3 working days until it is reconciled.

We collect regular contributions on the 18th of each month. If the 18th falls on a weekend or clashes with a public holiday then the collection date will be the first working day after the 18th.

We send payment instructions to the bank 5 working days in advance of the 18th. This means that if you set up or request a change to the regular instruction within 5 working days of the 18th, the change will be made the following month.

We will notify you by email 5 working days in advance of a new regular contribution or any change to the timing and amount thereafter.

Not currently, but this is something we plan to offer in the future. In the meantime you may arrange a Standing Order with your bank which can be set to any date you wish. Please contact us if you would like the payment details to arrange a Standing Order with your bank.

Money arriving with our platform provider goes initially into a "pooled" client money account before being allocated to your specific Beanstalk account. The allocation happens several times during the day so you will not see it in your account until after this process. You will normally see it by end of the day, but top ups made at the end of the day or at the weekend may not show until the next working day.

The valuation on the app home page is only updated once a day so to view recent payments, you need to view contributions as explained below.

Click on the home page account "card" to see more detail about the account. Scroll down to the drop-down menu (default is holdings) and select "Contributions".

Due to Direct Debit rules, contributions made by this method initially show as "pending" and are not included in the overall account valuation (this also applies to some cheques). Contributions that are confirmed show as "cleared" and are included in the overall account valuation.

Click on the home page account "card" to see more detail about the account. Scroll down to the drop-down menu (default is holdings) and select "Details". Scrolling right will allow you to see the number of units of each fund you hold, its current value, original cost and the percentage change.

Most of the information you may need such as contributions and account performance are visible on the account screen by changing the "Holding" drop-down to Details, Contributions, Transactions and Cash account. We also create statements every 6 months which you can view by scrolling the bottom of the account screen and pressing "VIEW DOCUMENTS".

Contributions are invested weekly, normally on a Tuesday (unless it is a holiday in which case it will be next working day). The trades are calculated the day before (normally Monday) based on the contributions received into your account by 4pm, and the fund allocation you have set at that point. Money received after the cut off will be invested the following week and allocation changes must be triggered before midday to be included in that weeks trades.

If you change your allocation, you are asking us to sell some or all of your existing Securities or Fund and reinvest the proceeds in another Security or Fund. This is known as a 'Switch'. As with the timing for investments, we normally place "switch orders" on a Tuesday based on your holdings and allocation on the previous day. During the switch, the initial sale happens first and then only once this has settled does the second part (the buy) happen so the switch can take a number of days to implement.

Withdrawals are only allowed from ISAs. To withdraw, please click on your ISA on the app home page and you will find a button at the bottom.

The maximum value that you can withdraw is set as the value of the account at that point. If the money is invested, then we first need to place an order to sell your holdings and the actual amount available will depend on how much is realised in the sale. If some of your money is in cash, we will sell enough of your holdings to cover the shortfall in a similar percentage of each's value.

Holdings are normally sold on a Tuesday and as for investments, withdrawals must be received by midday on the previous day to be included in that week's trades.

Once the sales have settled (ie: cash is received into your account), we will arrange to pay out your withdrawal via Bacs which can take several working days. We will process your withdrawal in a prompt manner but withdrawals can take up to two weeks before the money is with you given order and settlement timings.

Please note you may only trigger one withdrawal at a time.

On some occasions when we have not been able to confirm your identity/bank account through our electronic verification checks, we may ask you to provide proof of identify such as a passport or drivers licence as well as a recent bank statement. If you have received such a request from us, please respond to it so we can process your application and open your account. If you are sending a bank statement, all we need to see is the part showing your name, sort code and account number. We do not want to see any of the transactions, so please feel free to cover these up.

Contact us and we can fix this for you.

When you open a Beanstalk account it automatically becomes the linked account for any KidStart Savings earned for that child. When you collect KidStart Savings when shopping at partner retailers it will accumulate in your child's KidStart account and be automatically transferred to their Beanstalk account once it reaches the minimum transfer threshold of £5.