Are NS&I Income Bonds better than the "highest interest" easy access savings accounts?

dalemevans

bp5678 said:

I'm considering NS&I Income Bonds. Just wondering if you think it's better than the "highest interest" easy access savings accounts at the moment? I put that in quotation marks as I realise interest rates are awful currently.

Only if you don't mind waiting: I deposited 5K by debit card Mon. 27/7. Its Tues 4/8: It still hasn't been processed. Log in: you're in a queue, 10 minute wait to get online ! Call: 15 min. wait, and don't call about transactions (including deposits) as we can't paddle any faster. What a rubbish system. I will use as a last resort to tuck away spare cash, if at all. 

bp5678

OP again:
Ok so a nice compromise would be to go for the NS&I Direct Saver as it offers more flexibility on how much I pay in/take out but still has a high interest compared to what else is out there on the market right now? Is that the best option for me for easy access but high interest for whats out there?

colsten

dalemevans said:

bp5678 said:

I'm considering NS&I Income Bonds. Just wondering if you think it's better than the "highest interest" easy access savings accounts at the moment? I put that in quotation marks as I realise interest rates are awful currently.

Only if you don't mind waiting: I deposited 5K by debit card Mon. 27/7. Its Tues 4/8: It still hasn't been processed. Log in: you're in a queue, 10 minute wait to get online ! Call: 15 min. wait, and don't call about transactions (including deposits) as we can't paddle any faster. What a rubbish system. I will use as a last resort to tuck away spare cash, if at all. 

There is a prominent message about clearing times and effective dates for interest in your NS&I online banking. The clearing times are also clearly documented in the account Brochure, which no doubt you will have read before applying for the account. Relevant sections reproduced below for your convenience.


Phoning NS&I will not speed up the clearing times but it will take up CS time better spent on customers' real problems.

kangoora

Somehow I picture legions of civil servants sat at pulpit type desks and using quill pens to update ledgers. At a push maybe some 20th century tech like a compressed air mail tubes

LobsterMemory

bp5678 said:

OP again:
Ok so a nice compromise would be to go for the NS&I Direct Saver as it offers more flexibility on how much I pay in/take out but still has a high interest compared to what else is out there on the market right now? Is that the best option for me for easy access but high interest for whats out there?

I think a nicer compromise would be to go with the suggestions of both.
Say you had a £5000 holiday fund and you're saving £100 a month.
Put £4000 into the IB and £1000 in the DS and the £100pm as well
Then if you have say a weekend break for £300  pay it from the DS, a bigger holiday of say £2000 from the IB.
Top up the DS with £500 from the IB if it goes below £500 or feed the IB with £500 from the DS if it goes above £1500.

easterbunni

dalemevans said:

bp5678 said:

I'm considering NS&I Income Bonds. Just wondering if you think it's better than the "highest interest" easy access savings accounts at the moment? I put that in quotation marks as I realise interest rates are awful currently.

Only if you don't mind waiting: I deposited 5K by debit card Mon. 27/7. Its Tues 4/8: It still hasn't been processed. Log in: you're in a queue, 10 minute wait to get online ! Call: 15 min. wait, and don't call about transactions (including deposits) as we can't paddle any faster. What a rubbish system. I will use as a last resort to tuck away spare cash, if at all. 

I send money by FP from my bank to my DS, and it is there the next day. I can then transfer from the DS to IB or PB online and it is immediately moved

IanManc

kangoora said:

Somehow I picture legions of civil servants sat at pulpit type desks and using quill pens to update ledgers. At a push maybe some 20th century tech like a compressed air mail tubes

That's a nice image, but the backroom administration of NS&I is outsourced to ATOS, and none of their staff are civil servants.  😉

coachman12

ATOS staff do the donkey work ( and have saved much public money) but a few hundred talented Civil Servants are needed to run what is a prestigious Government Department and an agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
NS&I remains, with 30 million customers and holdings of £170 billion, a unique national institution which I have favoured for many years, long before its current interest rate placed it in the limelight.

colsten

I had to put one MSE forumite on my ignore list today, after receiving  an abusive PM from them, accusing me to be working for NS&I because I had pointed out, in this thread, that NS&I detail how they clear money for the various deposit methods.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not work for NS&I, and never have worked for them. I also won't respond to questions about T&Cs in PMs, and I will put anyone sending me abusive PMs on ignore.

lhsecons

colsten said:

I had to put one MSE forumite on my ignore list today, after receiving  an abusive PM from them, accusing me to be working for NS&I because I had pointed out, in this thread, that NS&I detail how they clear money for the various deposit methods.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not work for NS&I, and never have worked for them. I also won't respond to questions about T&Cs in PMs, and I will put anyone sending me abusive PMs on ignore.

You may already have done so, but could I suggest that you report them as well. Let’s get the trolls off of this board.