Premium Bonds Delay in cashing in

kneespots

Asking if this is correct or anyone else has experienced it? I recently bought 20k of premium bonds, but have now changed my mind and want to invest elsewhere. I paid by debit card. I cannot withdraw my money, according to NSANDI, until 12 days have passed (unlike the normal ~3 days). Rather than saying this is to allow clearance, and 12 days seems mighty excessive, they say it is a "cooling off period". This isn't my experience of what a cooling off period is, which usually workd in the customer's benefit. Any thoughts welcomed

blue_max_3

Well, when you buy, you are not entered into the draw until a full calendar month has elapsed, so there is nothing regular about them. I must say, I think they should have that in writing somewhere.

Alistair31

Did you read the T&C’s on signup ?

bowlhead99

blue_max_3 said:

Well, when you buy, you are not entered into the draw until a full calendar month has elapsed, so there is nothing regular about them. 

That seems quite reasonable given that any one bond can't be 'partially' in or out of the prize draw, it has to be either in it or not in it, and if you could effectively buy in and be put in a draw to win a 1/12th of your expected annual interest within less than a month, the system would be ripe for abuse.

 I must say, I think they should have that in writing somewhere.

I'm not aware from the product or general T&Cs of any specific long 'cooling off' period for PBs. For withdrawing, if you request a withdrawal within the last couple of business days of a month they may sometimes delay the cash-in to put you into the next draw, because there is a period where they need to finalise the exact number of bonds in issue and thus the prize pool, so for smooth running they keep you locked in the draw if you request to duck out at the very last minute. Other than that, withdrawing is usually pretty quick.

However, for someone who is only just establishing their account, I could see why it would take longer - for example if you had paid in by cheque they say standard clearance is up to seven working days for it to be available to purchase investments... and then a day to cancel out of the investments and transfer to you... and a couple of days of weekends etc.... so I could see why they would quote 12 days for the 'round trip' - even though in your case you chose to by by debit card, it's perhaps a pain to have lots of clients paying by different methods and having to quote them all a different cancellation time rather than one standard policy.

Also as NSANDI accepts very large deposits, often by card, one might expect them to have a certain amount of time to go through fraud or anti-moneylaundering checks on the new customers' receipts rather than accept your tens of thousands and give it you cleanly back the very next day freshly laundered. 

As I say, I'm not aware of a written policy on it, but then I haven't ever been in the position of sending them a load of money and regretting it as soon as I'd done so - perhaps the policy is documented somewhere somewhere that they could tell you or show you?

blue_max_3

For their direct saver, the rules for withdrawal are:

For withdrawals up to and including £50,000 you'll receive the money in your bank account within the next banking day.

For any withdrawals made over £50,000 today you'll receive the money in your bank account within 3 banking days.

So, I don't think it can be for money laundering reasons can it?

Zanderman

blue_max_3 said:

For their direct saver, the rules for withdrawal are:

For withdrawals up to and including £50,000 you'll receive the money in your bank account within the next banking day.

For any withdrawals made over £50,000 today you'll receive the money in your bank account within 3 banking days.

So, I don't think it can be for money laundering reasons can it?

Surely the point being made is that the deposits need to go through NS&I's AML process before they can be withdrawn again.
Their published terms for withdrawals are only relevant for deposits they have fully accepted after doing AML checks..

Thrugelmir

blue_max_3 said:

For their direct saver, the rules for withdrawal are:

For withdrawals up to and including £50,000 you'll receive the money in your bank account within the next banking day.

For any withdrawals made over £50,000 today you'll receive the money in your bank account within 3 banking days.

So, I don't think it can be for money laundering reasons can it?

Funds need to be cleared first. In the current circumstances there'll be a degree of extra caution as could be delays in communication. 

blue_max_3

I wasn't aware of an extended time for any credits to that account. And then the withdrawals are specified. Not sure why it should be different to premium bonds. But I don't really understand what you mean about the AML process, so maybe I'm missing something.

kuratowski

Paying a large amount of money in, and then withdrawing it again very soon afterwards, is bound to look like money-laundering.  That's literally what money-laundering is!  So they will have to go through the checks; a branch of the government is hardly likely to want to be the weak link that facilitates financial crime.

blue_max_3

Isn't this going to be true across the board though? Not saying you aren't correct, but premium bonds have a limit of £50k, which is not insubstantial, but not a fortune either.

Thrugelmir

kuratowski said:

Paying a large amount of money in, and then withdrawing it again very soon afterwards, is bound to look like money-laundering.  That's literally what money-laundering is!  So they will have to go through the checks; a branch of the government is hardly likely to want to be the weak link that facilitates financial crime.

OP didn't say if the monies are being returned to the originating account.