Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Already a member? Log in

Quanisha Green was checking her email when she saw one from the IRS that made her pause. The email subject was titled, “Claim your child's Trump Account today!”

“I was like, ‘Is this a legitimate IRS website?’” the Philadelphia mom of two said. The email explained that nearly 70 million Trump Accounts have been created for children under 18 with a valid Social Security number — whether their parents wanted one or not.

“I don't know how I feel about this,” Green, a business advisor and a department director at a college, recalled thinking.

President Donald Trump announced the automatic enrollment for Trump Accounts - a new kind of individual retirement account for under-18-year-olds - at an Oval Office event on October 7.

Children born from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2028 are eligible for a one-off $1,000 deposit from the government, but parents must request the contribution. Parents also need to claim the Trump Account before they can manage it.

open image in gallery On October 1, the Treasury Department announced its completion of automatic enrollment for Trump Accounts - a new kind of individual retirement account for under-18-year-olds. Some parents said they do not want an account in their kids’ names without their consent ( Getty )

Older children are also eligible for a Trump Account, even if they don’t qualify for the $1,000. Some parents, though, said they knew nothing about the accounts until they were notified by the IRS that one had been created.

And there is no way to opt out of the automatic opening of the account.

Once a Trump Account has been claimed, it cannot currently be closed regardless of how the account was created, according to a Treasury official. The email Green received from the IRS, seen by The Independent, encouraged her to download the Trump Accounts app to activate her children’s accounts.

“Established by President Donald J. Trump’s landmark Working Families Tax Cuts law, Trump Accounts help children build long-term savings and gain a stake in America’s economic future,” the email said.

The president’s branding was off putting for Green, but her children, aged 10 and 14, automatically have a Trump Account against her wishes.

“When it gave the instructions to go to Trump's special website, I was like, OK, I'm definitely not signing up because anything that is associated with this president in that way, I'm just like, ‘no, thank you!’” she said. “I don't want to be associated with this in any shape, way, or form.”

Green’s other concerns were surrounding protecting her children’s personal data.

open image in gallery Quanisha Green received an email from the IRS informing her to activate her children’s Trump Accounts. ‘I don't want to be associated with this in any shape, way, or form,’ she said ( Quanisha Green )

“I just have a lack of confidence in this administration, especially with all the stuff they did earlier around Elon Musk and him having potential access to the IRS database,” she said, referring to the chaos under the billionaire’s now defunct Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk requested access to IRS systems that held sensitive taxpayer data. He was ultimately unsuccessful after major outcry, but a judge last week ruled that the Office of Personnel Management breached federal law when it shared other sensitive government information about federal employees with Musk’s DOGE operatives.

Texas mom Kate Pospisil, who lives near Austin, said she was “horrified” that her 5-year-old daughter has a Trump Account without her consent.

“The fact that a government entity can open a financial account run by a bank and a brokerage firm in my daughter's name without my consent, without my approval, without any kind of signage or anything… it's horrifying,” she told The Independent.

“There should have been an opt-out opportunity for my child and for my family,” the 39-year-old digital advertising managing editor added.

open image in gallery Texas mom Kate Pospisil, who lives near Austin, said she was ‘horrified’ that her five-year-old daughter has a Trump Account without her consent. Once a Trump Account has been claimed, it cannot currently be closed regardless of how the account was created, a Treasury official said ( Kate Pospisil )

For Pospisil, her issue with the Trump Account is not so much about the “Trump” name.

“I don't want anybody making a decision for my child other than her father, without my consent,” she explained. “We are the adults in charge of her well-being and bringing her to adulthood, and I feel like a valid parental decision was overridden by the government. And to me, that is very disturbing, regardless of who the politician in charge is.”

The Treasury has designated the Bank of New York Mellon to support the Trump Accounts program and the bank has partnered with Robinhood Securities as the brokerage provider and initial trustee.

It doesn’t sit well with Pospisil. “I don't know what information was shared with these private entities,” she explained. “I understand that the government has that information, but those private entities didn't have it prior to October 1, and now they do, and they do without my consent. And to me, that is a massive problem.”

Neither Green nor Pospisil’s children qualify for the $1,000 contribution from the government and said they were not going to “activate” and claim their kids’ Trump accounts. But the accounts themselves will still exist.

Outside donors can still contribute to unclaimed accounts. Automatic enrollment enables eligible children to begin benefiting from qualifying philanthropic and government contributions as early as possible, according to a Treasury official.

open image in gallery Children born from Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2028 are eligible for a one-off $1,000 deposit from the government, but parents must request the contribution ( Getty )

Experts encouraged parents to try and separate the politics from the financial.

“I can understand why some parents feel uncomfortable with the government automatically opening an investment account in their child’s name,” Liliya Rose Strong, an investor and mom of two, said. “But personally, I try to keep politics out of my investment decisions.”

“My own two children were born before 2025, so neither qualifies for the federal $1,000 contribution,” she added. “But if they did, I’d happily accept it while continuing to invest in their 529 plans.”

But for parents such as Green and Pospisil, that is easier said than done and they don’t plan to claim their kids’ accounts.

“We weren't necessarily comfortable with a government account that didn't have a lot of information about it,” Pospisil said.

“There are still lots of outstanding questions even now,” added Green.