NS&I DONT!

JamesorHarold

If you are considering NS&I be certain that you will regret dealing with them. They have requirements for the form filling and document certification that are contradictory. ( if you feel like a major guilt trip, telephone them. If you aren't sorry after the first half hour of waiting you have not been listening).

If you do complete the forms and documents according to their information you are likely to get it wrong. They send a letter informing you of your error. They also supply a pre-paid business reply letter. On the outside of this letter, however, they write your reference number that includes your personal details. So, any person who sees that letter while it moves through the postal system has access to personal information. (Is that not how identity theft occurs?). I was told that this was their system as it was the "only way to ensure that correspondence reached the correct department". I mentioned the data protection act and was told that they had read it and this, "in their interpretation, was not a contravention". They are a financial institution and are quite prepared to let unauthorised people see personal information. How trust worthy are they with your money? I could choose not to use their business reply envelope but I have tried that and they stated that they have not received that correspondence.

MinuteNoodles

I'm a lorry driver and never had a problem filling them in. The reference number is meaningless to anyone who sees it, how do you think they're able to get access to your personal information from a reference number on an envelope? NS&I are extremely trustworthy with their money to the point that deposits are 100% government backed unlike any other financial institution.

JenniferK

I have had no problems whatsoever.  I opened an account a few weeks ago.

uknick

Maybe I've been lucky but I've never had any problems with them over the years.

pafpcg

JamesorHarold said:

...............................
They also supply a pre-paid business reply letter. On the outside of this letter, however, they write your reference number that includes your personal details.
............................

I appreciate your concerns.  If you wish to reduce the risk of your personal details being compromised, simply reply using your own envelope.  And if you want to save the postage, send it Freepost!  Just quote the twelve alphabetic characters of the Business Reply Licence Number in the fornat:  FREEPOST  ABCD-EFGH-JKLM

But be prepared for a delay, because if NS&I really do use for internal distribution a code unique to your account with them, you'll have to wait longer whilst NS&I open all the correspondence to them that isn't uniquely coded and readdress your envelope so that it gets to the right department.  You may feel that's a price worth paying?

colsten

NS&I have 25 million customers who have deposited some £179 billion between them. It seems you were very unfortunate if you didn't manage to sign up first time as it doesn't appear to be a general problem that many of those 25 million experienced.

Better luck when you provide the missing / correct information they have asked you for.

tafelmoneysaver

Didn't they also include your personal data on the outside of the envelope used to send you the prepaid envelope?

--

Could you describe the format of the reference number? The exact nature of the risk isn't clear from your post.

Stubod

Just to prove you wrong I would like to say that I have several NSI accounts and I am certain I have no regrets dealing with them...

Thrugelmir

Never had an issue with NSI.

Niv

Not had any problem with NS&I, but then again I didn't faff with letters and envelopes etc, less than 5 mins online and it was done.

polymaff

JamesorHarold said:

If you are considering NS&I  ... if you feel like a major guilt trip ,,,

On the outside of this letter, however, they write your reference number that includes your personal details

So what part of that reference number includes your personal details?