Pensioner Bonds Guide

Goldenyears

Information for those applying by post with cheques, I posted a downloaded form on 20 Jan and received bond paperwork by post on 6 February. The bonds are dated from 21 Jan. There was nothing to sign/return.

colsten

George Osborne announced this morning on Andrew Marr that the bonds will be available for another 3 months. He expects this to cost another £5bn.

Edit: he has now tweeted:

Confirming today that the 65+ bonds will be on sale until 15th May - so potential savers don’t miss out on the market-leading rates on offer

I-LOV-MONEY

colsten wrote: »

George Osborne announced this morning on Andrew Marr that the bonds will be available for another 3 months. He expects this to cost another £5bn.

Edit: he has now tweeted:

He has also removed the ceiling on the amount, I am not sure if this is the amount available or what a person can invest.

horsechestnut

I applied by phone, was asked some details and was given a reference number and told what to do. They were very nice and helpful; I guess that they were told that they were dealing with Pensioners!!!
Received my bonds yesterday.

Joe_Bloggs

I-LOV-MONEY said:-

He has also removed the ceiling on the amount, I am not sure if this is the amount available or what a person can invest.

I think the limit of £10K per person per bond still stands. Perhaps this is also per tax year so the richest pensioners can fill their boots again after the 6th of April. I could be wrong but there are no hard and fast rules to election bribery when in power. What is certain is that tax payers will be paying for the cost of this scheme.
J_B.

Ken68

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b052r2hd


40 minutes in....£10bn first time , now another £5bn. probably before the election.

Archi_Bald

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

I-LOV-MONEY said:-


I think the limit of £10K per person per bond still stands. Perhaps this is also per tax year so the richest pensioners can fill their boots again after the 6th of April. I could be wrong but there are no hard and fast rules to election bribery when in power. What is certain is that tax payers will be paying for the cost of this scheme.
J_B.

I have just listened to what he said. Agree, the £10K per person per bond stays unaltered. There has been no suggestion that the limits are per tax year.

The only new thing he announced is the guarantee that the bonds will be on sale until May 15th (a week beyond the election), and that he expects to cost this around £5bn in addition to what had been put aside for these bonds before.

Joe_Bloggs

@Archibald and all
The Government can borrow at 0.6% and pay rich pensioners 4% on £15 billion. The cost is not the amount of the bonds. It is the lost potential of other things you could have done with the interest on the money. Do the maths!

J_B.
The interest on these bonds is taxable and higher rate tax payers will have to declare the interest that they have not got before they get it, given byzantine HMRC logic.

Aged

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

The Government can borrow at 0.6% and pay rich pensioners 4% on £15 billion

What are you on about? So anyone who has accumulated a pension pot (whether large or small) to give themselves an income in retirement is 'rich' by your standards? What an idiot!

colsten

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

The interest on these bonds is taxable and higher rate tax payers will have to declare the interest that they have not got before they get it, given byzantine HMRC logic.

This is just not true, as has been discussed before. Nobody needs to pay tax on money they have not received. Obviously, interest is not cash in hand as it gets paid into the bond (where is earns further interest) but it is firmly owned by the bond holder, long before the tax becomes due. The amount due is marginal - some £80 to £85 a year for a higher rate tax payer, around £100 for an additional rate payer. Nobody who is paying higher/additional rate will blink an eyelid about this amount of tax, as they will know that they are making money bottom line. And they will hardly be on the breadline, anyway.