Don't touch NS&I with a barge pole if you think you might want your money back any time soon!

epm-84

sharp910sh said:

He didn't just say save with NS&I on this website he also was saying the same thing on his ITV show. No point blindly recommending places to save your account for an extra 10p per £1000 when the customer service is not good. 

He actually informs people of the best interest rates and if there's a known issue with a provider he usually mentions at at the time.  He also mentioned Marcus and Saga as two of the leading accounts in the past, so if he hadn't mentioned NS&I it would have sounded like he wasn't being independent and was bias towards Marcus.   It wasn't just the interest rate that Martin highlighted, it was the fact that NS&I needed to give 60 days notice before lowering the interest rate, while other providers only had to give 14 days and he also clarified why it was called an 'Income Bond' not an Instant Savings Accounts.

His advice isn't tailored to any specific individuals.  Some people will have just sold a property and will need somewhere to put a huge sum of money for a short amount of time, others will have a small rainy day that they don't want to lock away for a fixed period. 

I actually moved some money from a limited access account paying 1% to the NS&I income bond paying 1.2% with unlimited withdrawals, as long as each withdrawal is over £500.  There were multiple factors to consider when moving the money, including the interest rate and I wouldn't have expected Martin to be able to tell me whether I should have done that.  

sharp910sh

I will no longer to listening to Martin Lewis. Simple. Wonder when I will receive my new password? Its 2020 not 1995.

 I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account. I transferred £10ks from there no additional security no issues at all. Forget my password reset with ease. They use two factor authentication like all the other banks. No issues there at all. Even if someone stole my phone they would not be able to get it and its locked with a password so highly secure. A letter is actually less secure, I have had many of my letters stolen before.  

 NS&I would learn a thing from Marcus and other bank accounts. 

Slinky

It should have been blindingly obvious to anybody with an Income Bond account that there may have been issues with lots of people heading for the exit all at the same time. Hence I shifted mine out over several withdrawals in the week before.

VXman

sharp910sh said:

 I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account. I transferred £10ks from there no additional security no issues at all. Forget my password reset with ease. They use two factor authentication like all the other banks. No issues there at all. 
 NS&I would learn a thing from Marcus and other bank accounts. 

I would question the security of Marcus. I have just gone to the Marcus site on my computer. The PC remembers my log in which is just my email and a simple password so I just click log on. After that you can transfer up to £20,000 a day with no further security. OK, it can only go to your nominated account but even so access is the same level as NS&I.

Also, no issues with withdrawing/transferring money at NS&I. Never had to phone them up as online has worked well.

soulsaver

VXman said:

sharp910sh said:

 I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account. I transferred £10ks from there no additional security no issues at all. Forget my password reset with ease. They use two factor authentication like all the other banks. No issues there at all. 
 NS&I would learn a thing from Marcus and other bank accounts. 

I would question the security of Marcus. I have just gone to the Marcus site on my computer. The PC remembers my log in which is just my email and a simple password so I just click log on. After that you can transfer up to £20,000 a day with no further security. OK, it can only go to your nominated account but even so access is the same level as NS&I.

Also, no issues with withdrawing/transferring money at NS&I. Never had to phone them up as online has worked well.

Marcus hasn't made your PC remember your login detail - YOU have.  

NaughtiusMaximus

soulsaver said:

VXman said:

sharp910sh said:

 I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account. I transferred £10ks from there no additional security no issues at all. Forget my password reset with ease. They use two factor authentication like all the other banks. No issues there at all. 
 NS&I would learn a thing from Marcus and other bank accounts. 

I would question the security of Marcus. I have just gone to the Marcus site on my computer. The PC remembers my log in which is just my email and a simple password so I just click log on. After that you can transfer up to £20,000 a day with no further security. OK, it can only go to your nominated account but even so access is the same level as NS&I.

Also, no issues with withdrawing/transferring money at NS&I. Never had to phone them up as online has worked well.

Marcus hasn't made your PC remember your login detail - YOU have.  

I've noticed the same with Marcus, and while what you say is technically correct, there is a security check element to the sites of every other bank/credit card I'm with which MUST be manually entered each time. It's poor web design to build a banking website where it's possible for Windows to remember ALL your login details.

epm-84

sharp910sh said:

I will no longer to listening to Martin Lewis. Simple. Wonder when I will receive my new password? Its 2020 not 1995.
I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account.

Actually banking regulations were less tight in 1995 so the checks to ensure that it's you who requested the password not someone trying to steal your identity wouldn't have existed.

I'm pretty sure Martin Lewis never instructed people with Marcus accounts to transfer the funds to NS&I to get a little bit more interest.  He told us all Marcus had the best rate and then told us it was now NS&I and then later on that it was Coventry.  If you thought Marcus was a much better account, then why did you open a NS&I one?  Given you did why did you subsequently not take "Martin's advice" to open a Coventry account after the NS&I rate drop was announced?  If you did it would have made sense to move the funds straight away.

Also if you researched "Martin's advice" from the past you'll know he once told people that Icelandic accounts offered the top savings rate, only for the people who put money into those accounts to see the bank collapse and customers being initially unable to access their money, before being able to request a withdrawal of all funds a few weeks later.

easterbunni

NS&I withdrawal has turned up today when they said it would probably be Monday, so no complaints here. I looked at my £5K bank balance and almost panicked, until I realised it was them

sharp910sh

epm-84 said:

sharp910sh said:

I will no longer to listening to Martin Lewis. Simple. Wonder when I will receive my new password? Its 2020 not 1995.
I also have a Marcus account, its a much better account.

Actually banking regulations were less tight in 1995 so the checks to ensure that it's you who requested the password not someone trying to steal your identity wouldn't have existed.

I'm pretty sure Martin Lewis never instructed people with Marcus accounts to transfer the funds to NS&I to get a little bit more interest.  He told us all Marcus had the best rate and then told us it was now NS&I and then later on that it was Coventry.  If you thought Marcus was a much better account, then why did you open a NS&I one?  Given you did why did you subsequently not take "Martin's advice" to open a Coventry account after the NS&I rate drop was announced?  If you did it would have made sense to move the funds straight away.

Also if you researched "Martin's advice" from the past you'll know he once told people that Icelandic accounts offered the top savings rate, only for the people who put money into those accounts to see the bank collapse and customers being initially unable to access their money, before being able to request a withdrawal of all funds a few weeks later.

I did not transfer money from Marcus to NS&I I opened both at the same time and split the money between the two, then I realised NS&I is rubbish and the money did not land into the Income Bonds until after 7 days. Very strange, I therefore did not transfer much to the NS&I account only a few bob. I am not surprised they are struggling to withdraw the money, considering paying into Income Bonds was a pain too. 

I called again today and now they tell me I can fill this online form to close my account and transfer money but it will take up to 8 days which he said will be quicker than getting your new security details. Very backward system. 

eskbanker

sharp910sh said:
I did not transfer money from Marcus to NS&I I opened both at the same time and split the money between the two, then I realised NS&I is rubbish and the money did not land into the Income Bonds until after 7 days. Very strange, I therefore did not transfer much to the NS&I account only a few bob. I am not surprised they are struggling to withdraw the money, considering paying into Income Bonds was a pain too.

Very strange in the sense that it differs from other providers, but clearly explained in the Ts & Cs on the NS&I website, although you're far from the only one not to spot it there....