Anyone else having issues with NS&I? 6 weeks to transfer account and still waiting!

magicmanstu

Hi,
I had £10k invested in an NS&I Income Bonds account as it was giving the leading interest rate as recommended by MSE.  In November this dropped to virtually nothing so on November 25th I completed an online form to transfer my balance to Premium Bonds and close my Income Bonds account.  You would think this would be pretty straight forward, the account would be set up before December 1st and I would be eligible for the January prize draw, but alas no  
Nothing seemed to be happening to my Income Bonds account and then the second week of December I receive an almost identical form through the post. Oh well, maybe they need my actual signature on these things so I complete and send back 1st class the same day.
December 16th I get a text message thanking me for my "withdrawal instructions" and to expect the money in my account in 2 days??
My income bonds account then disappears from my online banking account and now states I have £0 invested.
Nothing has happened by 24th December so I call the helpline and am assured it's being processed and the Premium Bonds account will be open either that day or the next working day (29th December).
Again nothing has happened by 31st December so I call again and am told there's a problem as my account has £3 interest on it and they can't transfer that to Premium Bonds!! I am now informed this will take 10-15 WORKING days to sort out!! I'm assured my £10k is still there and not to worry but this process is stressing me out.
I'm sure they will try and blame these delays on Covid, but surely this is just bad service?
Has anyone else had a similar experience and how have they dealt with it?

magicmanstu

Correction:  My account actually had 3p interest on it!! 

Shankers

See this short thread: I had the issue a few weeks ago and there was an easy, quick fix:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6215344/ns-i-switch-from-income-bonds-to-premium-bonds#latest
Use the 'chat' function to tell NS&I that you have transferred manually yourself once you've done it.

Shankers

Lord knows why NS&I suggest the 'form' to you when you can sort the situation out in half an hour yourself by doing it manually.

Shankers

This is the most relevant bit from the thread I posted: 'Even if you had to first open a PB account, it should not have taken more than 5 minutes to make this transfer yourself. If your transfer is still not complete, you could still transfer it yourself now. By the time they come to process your form, they will notice it's already been done.'

magicmanstu

Shankers said:

See this short thread: I had the issue a few weeks ago and there was an easy, quick fix:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6215344/ns-i-switch-from-income-bonds-to-premium-bonds#latest
Use the 'chat' function to tell NS&I that you have transferred manually yourself once you've done it.

Thanks, wish I had read this before.  I wrongly assumed it would be a smooth process.  Unfortunately my IB account is now closed, I can't transfer anything and according to my closing statement a warrant has been issued for £10,000.03.  It is the 3p that is causing the issue as they can't open a PB account with 3p in the balance.  But instead of communicating me this issue they just seem to be sitting on the cash doing nothing.

Shankers

magicmanstu said:

Shankers said:

See this short thread: I had the issue a few weeks ago and there was an easy, quick fix:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6215344/ns-i-switch-from-income-bonds-to-premium-bonds#latest
Use the 'chat' function to tell NS&I that you have transferred manually yourself once you've done it.

Thanks, wish I had read this before.  I wrongly assumed it would be a smooth process.  Unfortunately my IB account is now closed, I can't transfer anything and according to my closing statement a warrant has been issued for £10,000.03.  It is the 3p that is causing the issue as they can't open a PB account with 3p in the balance.  But instead of communicating me this issue they just seem to be sitting on the cash doing nothing.

Nightmare! I hope it works out for you soon. 

magicmanstu

Hooray finally sorted out today and can see the premium bonds in my online account!
I was just about to contact NS&I again but thought I would check my account first and it's just appeared today.
It's taken 7 weeks to transfer the account from income bonds to premium bonds and NS&I have been pretty useless throughout.  I've had no communications from them at all regarding this, no emails, letters or texts, the only way I've found anything out has been when I have rang their helpline and had to explain everything each time.
At least I can breath a sigh of relief my savings are still there and have not disappeared into the ether! 

colsten

What did they do with the 3p?

magicmanstu

No idea yet?
I hope they haven't spent it all on sweets 

Thrugelmir

magicmanstu said:

In November this dropped to virtually nothing so on November 25th I completed an online form to transfer my balance to Premium Bonds and close my Income Bonds account.  You would think this would be pretty straight forward, the account would be set up before December 1st and I would be eligible for the January prize draw, but alas no  

Months into a pandemic and the wheels should still turn as normal. Unfortunately not. Safe to assume that they'll be running well beneath capacity and will have had a backlog of enquiries to process following the broader interest rate drops.