How long do premium bonds bought with debit card take to "clear"

Victorwelldue

I'm considering putting a chunk of savings into premium bonds but before doing so I just wanted to get a feel for how easy (or otherwise) it is to transfer money in & out so I opened an account and bought £50 worth with a debit card. While the £50 shows under balance, "available" shows as zero. Does this sound normal? I would have thought payment via debit card would be available straight away but apparently not?

ChilliBob

Good question, I brought the full 50k worth last week and I'm in a similar position! 

wiseonesomeofthetime

When I deposited to Income Bonds and Direct Saver, using a debit card, I am pretty sure that those funds were not available for withdrawal for seven days.

Searched NS&I website for clarification around your circumstances, liek you both have no doubt tried, however, to no avail in getting a firm answer.

eskbanker

It's spelt out in the Ts & Cs at https://www.nsandi.com/files/asset/pdf/premium-bonds-brochure.pdf:

How long deposits take to clear
You can only take money out if you have enough cleared funds in your account. An electronic transfer deposit received by 18:30 on a banking day will normally clear on the next banking day. Debit card and cheque deposits will clear no later than the seventh banking day after being received. 

macman

Not quite clear if this is the question, but:
7. Timing of the draws: For your bond number to be entered into the prize draw you need to have had it for a full calendar month after the month of purchase. Therefore Bonds bought in June will be entered automatically into the August draw.

ChilliBob

macman said:

Not quite clear if this is the question, but:
7. Timing of the draws: For your bond number to be entered into the prize draw you need to have had it for a full calendar month after the month of purchase. Therefore Bonds bought in June will be entered automatically into the August draw.

From my perspective it wasn't, but good to know, seems no entries until Feb then. 

Albermarle

I would have thought payment via debit card would be available straight away but apparently not?

Ns & I have a few unusual quirks and this is one of them .

Bonds not being entered until the next months prize draw, has always been the same . When you made the deposit it is clearly stated on the acknowledgement of your investment, that the first draw will be February . I know because I bought some last week and I just checked the page I printed out.

NottinghamKnight

Its not really a quirk though just logical. If you deposited money on the 30th and were immediately allowed into the next draw on the first the logical thing would be then to take the money out on the next day, earn interest elsewhere and then repeat the following month. 

Victorwelldue

Thanks all. I'm aware of the prize draw eligibility lag, it was purely the time it takes to deposit & withdraw funds that I was referring to (which has now been answered). I incorrectly assumed debit card deposits would be faster than bank transfers.

msallen

Victorwelldue said:

Thanks all. I'm aware of the prize draw eligibility lag, it was purely the time it takes to deposit & withdraw funds that I was referring to (which has now been answered). I incorrectly assumed debit card deposits would be faster than bank transfers.

They are, at least as far as the purchased bonds draw eligibility. If you make a deposit by debit card on the last day of December the associated bonds will be eligible for the February draw, even if the last day of December fell on a weekend. This is not the case for bank transfers.
While the funds may not officially be cleared to withdraw for a number of days that is completely immaterial - after all why would anyone buy premium bonds only to cash them in a day or two later when by definition you have to hold them for at least a month for any (potential) return. 

Victorwelldue

Only because whenever I set up a new online banking account  or similar I always do small transfers in & out before moving any larger sums to ensure correct details have been used and no mishaps occur as a result of typos etc.