Pensioner Bonds Guide

I-LOV-MONEY

Defeated wrote: »

My Dad is 91 and doesn't have a debit card, so he had to apply by post, sending two cheques for £10k each. We sent them recorded delivery and had confirmation they were received last week. But the cheques still haven't been cashed.

How long before NS&I cashes the cheques? We don't want the money to run out before they process his postal application... (I can't ring and ask because they will only speak to him, and he's currently in hospital.)

Has anyone had any similar experiences? Thanks in advance for any help with this.

Why will the money "run out"? If it is in the bank, it will sure stay there until the cheques are cashed.

If you are male 'Defeated', and you really want to ring them you could pretend to be hiim, provided you know his passwords, and any other information ie NI and NS&I numbers.

If you are female you will need to find a trusted friend / brother !

Aged

Defeated wrote: »

My Dad is 91 and doesn't have a debit card, so he had to apply by post, sending two cheques for £10k each. We sent them recorded delivery and had confirmation they were received last week. But the cheques still haven't been cashed.

How long before NS&I cashes the cheques? We don't want the money to run out before they process his postal application... (I can't ring and ask because they will only speak to him, and he's currently in hospital.)

Has anyone had any similar experiences? Thanks in advance for any help with this.

Don't worry. There seems to be a delay between them receiving the payment and completing the transaction, even if you pay by debit card (my recent transactions with them sat on my online bank statement as 'pending transactions' for about a week, but if I looked at my NSI account online it showed them as deposits). Their system seems to be struggling to cope but if you know they have received your cheques you can rest assured that all is well

badger09

I-LOV-MONEY wrote: »

Why will the money "run out"? If it is in the bank, it will sure stay there until the cheques are cashed.

Aged wrote: »

Don't worry. There seems to be a delay between them receiving the payment and completing the transaction, even if you pay by debit card (my recent transactions with them sat on my online bank statement as 'pending transactions' for about a week, but if I looked at my NSI account online it showed them as deposits). Their system seems to be struggling to cope but if you know they have received your cheques you can rest assured that all is well

I think Defeated is concerned that the NS&I 65+ Bonds might sell out before his dad's application is processed, not that his dad's money might run out :cool:

StickorTwist

I would think that they would have to honour any applications and cheques received before the cut off date because a postal investment has to be dated the date an application and cheque is received, going by the terms and conditions.

Brand

mike88 wrote: »

There seems to be a huge misunderstanding about registration. When you go online to buy a bond there are two questions. From memory the first is are you registered and the second question relates to those who are not. The site also tells you that if you are not registered not to worry as you will be registered automatically during the application process.

When you apply online using the automatic registration process namely the second option you set up passwords etc and then pay. At the end of the payment process you are (or should be )issued with an NS&I registration number.

For many of us we were blank screened after payment due to the traffic on the website but later found that we had a bond and were issued with an NS&I registration number by post enabling you to login with the password you selected at application stage to confirm your bond details.

No
The request for password came at the start, and without having registered, I had no password, and so the web process did not let me proceed to payment.

spenderdave

Well I sent a postal application off on Friday so will see what happens. I was not happy in doing £10000 on my debit card and from the experiences of others that seems to have been borne out - a cheque seems more logical for that amount of money (since they don't allow direct transfers).

mike88

Brand wrote: »

No
The request for password came at the start, and without having registered, I had no password, and so the web process did not let me proceed to payment.

That's not how my application worked. I had not pre registered but paid online.

miller

Terry98 wrote: »

Thanks,that is very useful information.

I think HMRC are going to be inundated with queries just because NS&I are not registered to pay gross interest.

Perhaps they were in to much of a rush to get these out before the election they did not care about the consequences!

I wonder how many pensioners claim back the starting 10% rate on savings who are eligible. I'd guess it's not more than half, but who knows?

Picking up on some of the remarks earlier about pensioners getting various different perks. I'm not a pensioner myself, but I'd guess they have been relatively more affected by QE, FLS etc. if they have savings, so I'd have no quarms taking this pre-election bribe (if you can get it of course).

nilrem_2

Has anyone who sent via Royal Mail to apply for these bonds received anything yet?
I was already registered with NS&I and posted my applications over a week ago (because of the inability of the web site) so far nowt is showing on my savings page and my cheques remain un-cashed!

In the past whenever I have applied for savings via mail the cheques are cashed as soon as the institution receives them and normally within a day or two.

Talk about a shambles!

bigfreddiel

Nuuk wrote: »

I would advise extreme caution when investing with NS&I. Their website qualifies as one of the most unreliable on the Internet, and some of their staff clearly don't understand plain English.

I find the Nandi website one of the easiest and most reliable sites on the internet. Also when I have asked the staff any questions the answers have always been very helpful and concise

fj