NS&I switch if you dare.

Frodshaw

Some considerable time ago long before the Corvid 19 lockdown began I decided to move my sons 11 year old JISA from Santander to NS&I. I wanted to do this as Santander had notified customers that they were reducing the interest rate on JISAs. I applied to NS&I for an account for my son providing information for them to request the transfer of funds from Santander. After several weeks I received a letter from NS&I informing me that I had been allocated an NS&I identification number. A further week on and I received a further letter with a form to complete authorising the release of funds from Santander. I completed this promptly and returned it. 3 weeks later I received a letter from Santander informing me that they had transferred the funds in my sons JISA to NS&I on 15th June. Nearly 4 weeks on and still NS&I have not activated my sons JISA. I managed on one occasion 2 weeks ago,  after 45 minutes,  to get through on the telephone to speak to an advisor who could only tell me that they were working about 2 weeks behind in processing deposits due to Corvid 19. I was also told that deposits of this kind were made by cheque and once deposited the cheque would need to clear. We are now nearly 2 more weeks further on and still no sign of my sons money. Whilst I have been reassured that NS&I will pay interest from the day I applied for the account I feel I am still disadvantaged as I cannot yet deposit other funds into my sons JISA until his new account is activated and therefore there is no interest accumulating on this money. Neither can NS&I tell me whether the cheque from Santander has been received safely thereby alleviating my anxieties. I have now lodged a formal complaint which I have just been informed may take longer than the normal time to investigate (currently this is 8 weeks). And so it goes on..............

wiseonesomeofthetime

There are multiple threads on issues with NS&I deposits and account openings, so you are not alone.

General consensus seems to be that accounts are appearing TWO MONTHS after they have been initiated. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6149350/ns-i-junior-isa-transfer-time

Stopped me from trying to transfer my kids' JISA there! 

Frodshaw

Thanks - wish I had done more research before committing to switch. I am usually very cautious about buying anything online and wish I had applied the same cautiousness to my decision to move my sons JISA. I'm 6 weeks in now and really frustrated with the whole stone walling from NS&I. Yes - I get all the platitudes and excuses (especially about covid 19} but nothing seems to move on and all the while I have further funds which I can't deposit which means loss of interest. And still MSE promote NS&I without any warning about the delay in processing account opening/switches. 

AlwaysLearnin

Reports of transfers finally completing recently on this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6144821/ns-i-junior-isa-application-problems#latest

So still hope for you... 

Alter_ego

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

There are multiple threads on issues with NS&I deposits and account openings, so you are not alone.

General consensus seems to be that accounts are appearing TWO MONTHS after they have been initiated. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6149350/ns-i-junior-isa-transfer-time

Stopped me from trying to transfer my kids' JISA there! 

I opened a NSANDI savings account on line last week.  I already had a premium bonds account. The account opened immediatley and accepted a deposit that day.

colsten

Alter_ego said:

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

There are multiple threads on issues with NS&I deposits and account openings, so you are not alone.

General consensus seems to be that accounts are appearing TWO MONTHS after they have been initiated. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6149350/ns-i-junior-isa-transfer-time

Stopped me from trying to transfer my kids' JISA there! 

I opened a NSANDI savings account on line last week.  I already had a premium bonds account. The account opened immediatley and accepted a deposit that day.

That's very different from a JISA transfer.

Gogizmo

Glad to see someone has managed to open an account. I have been trying since May to open one online. The application form isn't working properly, the drop-down parts of the form, is title and date of birth do not work. If you try to start a chat it says it is busy. You can't even download an application form.