Premium Bonds

apb123

My daughter has some Premium Bonds.. They have been linked to mine but now she is 16 they have disappeared and she needs to register her account.

Online registration failed so I phoned. The operator told me we needed a "witnessed signature". It is quite difficult for us because we are both shielding.I pointed this out and asked politely "what legal required causes you to ask that". She has a bank account and we could have supplied copies of passport etc for money laundering regulations. When I asked this question the operator hung up !!

It strikes me as a legacy process that is nonsensical in 2020, and actually quite quite difficult to achieve with a shielding family in covid times. The wait for a call in over 30 minutes. NS&I is a curious mix of good and bad. It has a good website, good savings products, but sometimes is utterly backward...to the point of being quite shocking.

fwor

I agree that NS&I have some pretty archaic processes, but I think you have to accept what you find with them.

apb123 said:

I pointed this out and asked politely "what legal required causes you to ask that".

The question (as written) doesn't seem to make sense, but if you were expecting to be able to persuade them to override their standard procedures on the basis of logic and reasoning, you were always going to be disappointed! I've never had an NS&I employee hang up on me, but the usual "these are the rules" response is, in practical terms, not a lot different.

Although more difficult at the moment, it's still possible to get a witness for a signature - it just requires a bit more thought to get it done while maintaining sufficient distance.

fiisch

Covixcuse - the art of using Covid19 as an excuse for not doing something that is completely plausible under the restrictions imposed due to social distancing.

Unfortunately, the operator saw through your attempt.

eskbanker

I don't see their ID verification processes as being radically different from anyone else's - obviously all financial institutions prefer to verify electronically (easier, quicker, cheaper) but if that fails for whatever reason then they're all obliged to seek documentary support, with NS&I's recommendation for certified copies rather than originals explained at https://www.nsandi.com/which-documents-can-i-send-prove-my-identity-and-address

lindabea

As a matter of interest, did the NS&I operator tell you who can act as a witness.  Can a friend or a neighbor for instance act as a witness, or do you need a professional person.  And do you also have to sign.  If it's only your daughter's signature that's needed, I don't see a problem with your daughter getting her signature witnessed despite your need to shield.

bowlhead99

apb123 said:

The operator told me we needed a "witnessed signature". It is quite difficult for us because we are both shielding.I pointed this out and asked politely "what legal required causes you to ask that". She has a bank account and we could have supplied copies of passport etc for money laundering regulations. When I asked this question the operator hung up !!

 NS&I is a curious mix of good and bad. It has a good website, good savings products, but sometimes is utterly backward...to the point of being quite shocking.

NS&I are a government department and part of the Treasury. As  part of providing your daughter with an account, they would like a witnessed signature. You can presume their request is legal. Presumably if some scam artist defrauded you or your daughter you would be up in arms because they didn't even get a genuine witnessed signature.

I expect with half hour wait times and lots of customers complaining about the wait times while operators are very busy going from one call to the next, the call centre staff are not in the best frame of mind and if they've had a tough day, may give pretty short shrift to callers who assert as you did that they are acting illegally in requiring that the copy of your daughter's signature (which they have never seen before) is witnessed by an independent third party so that they know they are really dealing with your daughter.

It strikes me as a legacy process that is nonsensical in 2020, and actually quite quite difficult to achieve with a shielding family in covid times. 

If I were a sixteen year old looking to register bonds bought for me into a NS&I account with my own signature on it so that I could control the account, I would probably hope there was an 'app' instead, because i have not grown up signing for many things as I am still a minor and generally unable to execute contracts.

However, I wouldn't think it entirely nonsensical that the first time they get my signature (which may later be used to claim a £1 million prize) they ask for the signature to be witnessed.

Perhaps my kindly neighbour would be willing to come round to my front door, watch me sign the piece of paper, wait for me to put it on the step and retreat two metres, then move forward and sign their name on it with their own pen, before going home and washing their hands.

If not, it's hardly the end of the world if you can no longer see her bonds on your account and she has not yet registered for her own online access. Presumably if you suspect she has won the million pound prize it is worth hurrying up and registering so she can claim it without delay. However if she hasn't, the delay in receiving the average £25 prize that she'll probably win with every ~25,000 entries into the prize draw is something that could be tolerated for a while, given you are already having to put up with the hassle of isolating and your life is not very 'normal' at the moment; in your day to day lives you are already putting up with much more hardship than the delayed receipt of £25 is going to cause.

IanManc

bowlhead99 said:

Perhaps my kindly neighbour would be willing to come round to my front door, watch me sign the piece of paper, wait for me to put it on the step and retreat two metres, then move forward and sign their name on it with their own pen, before going home and washing their hands.

Quite.

That is exactly what I did when one of the teenagers next door needed his signature witnessing a couple of weeks ago. The whole process took less than a minute and neither of us has subsequently died.  🙄

jonesMUFCforever

Due to Covid does this have to be done now? The bonds are still in the draw and will not disappear.