NS+I delays

BettyE

This is my first post so I apologise if I don't get it right.
I applied by post in Dec.2020 to close my Income Bond A/C  and it is showing in the pending section as dated 7.12.2020 so I know the form has been received. I also know that my linked A/C details are correct as I have transferred money in the past and my £50 premium bond win  this month appeared promptly. Has anyone else had this experience? It surely shouldn't take more than a month.

eskbanker

Yes, many others have experienced significant delays dealing with NS&I in recent times, so there are a number of other threads along similar lines:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6214479/ns-i-warning-withdrawal-delays-from-income-bonds
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6217974/ns-i-withdrawal-could-take-several-weeks-to-complete
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6221265/dont-touch-ns-i-with-a-barge-pole-if-you-think-you-might-want-your-money-back-any-time-soon
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6226228/ns-i-long-delay-in-transfering-funds-from-income-bond-to-premium-bonds

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/158/treasury-committee/news/138100/treasury-committee-seeks-answers-from-nsi-following-string-of-complaints/ shows that the amount of noise about them has reached their bosses....

BettyE

 Since my first post I thought I'd check the NS+I A/C . Not happy to find that the Income Bonds are no longer shown and no " Pending" . All that's listed are my Premium  Bonds  so my money is out there somewhere Many thanks for  all the links.  Sort of reassuring, I suppose. At least  my linked A/C shows all the monthly interest payments that I received up to December and should be proof I did actually have the bonds!

paulypost

Great believer in coincidence (not really!) but when you posted this yesterday I was in the middle of a 90 minute call to NSandI. I think it must have been our 4th or even 5th. We applied to close an income bond by post (the site was down) and the form was received on 24 Nov so today is the SEVEN week anniversary and still no sign of the cash. The CSR I spoke with yesterday even tried to telephone the 'back office' responsible and she failed to get thru. Another CSR last month said "Oh yes it seems to have got itself stuck" (verbatim quote). However, I was assured that another bond maturing on 17/1 will be paid on 18/1 to which I responded "Well how can you be so sure it'll be paid the next day?" Because it's a lower figure and not subject to security checks. I said that a security call to check our account details had been received on 22/12 (FOUR weeks ago?) and that the pending transaction was dated 23/12. A complaint has already been registered with NSandI and I've emailed the Martin Lewis Mailbox twice. But still waiting. I just hope the standard recorded message is true and that the money is safe because it's the Government? Still this Government I'm not so confident! 

JK2021

Well it seems I am just another victim of NS&I and whatever game it is they are playing.  I have been trying to get to my savings and close my Income Bonds account since the 9th December 2020.  I have tried again this morning and I am still unable to access my money. I have called NS&I twice and so far have racked up 1 hour 40 minutes on the phone.  The person that I spoke to tried ringing the 'back office' but couldn't get through, so he emailed them just as the person I spoke to first time did. 
I have raised a complaint and have heard absolutely nothing.  I tried to raise another complaint online, not sure how because it was so convoluted I found a link to a complaints page only to get the message 'Access Denied' when I clicked on the link!!!! 

I have just raised a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman, the confirmation email from them states
"In light of the government’s guidance around the Covid-19 outbreak, we’re having to work differently. It is likely that it’ll take us a number of weeks to respond to let you know your complaint has been received and allocated to a case handler – but we’re working hard to get back to you as quickly as we can. If you’re facing financial hardship, ill health or need to speak to someone urgently – please get in touch on 0800 023 4567."
I will email the Martin Lewis Mailbox too, the one thing I won't do is hold my breath.  In these times people need the money they have put away for a rainy day!!!  If these aren't rainy days....? 

BooJewels

Different type of issue with them, but I was closing out a savings account of my late father's and it came to light that my late mother also had some outstanding premium bonds.  It took about 5 months in total to get them all sorted and they sent me several lots of forms to fill in, which only asked for information previously given.  I only persisted with them, as I had no idea how much money might be involved and they wouldn't tell me.

I finally got the pay out into the estate account in December.  For a grand total of £4.20!  I spent more than that on stamps, sending stuff to them.     Glad I was sitting down when I spotted that little windfall in my on-line banking.

Intenso

I'm in the same boat.  I completed an online form in Nov to transfer a sizeable sum of income bonds to premium bonds.

I then recieved an email to say that my income bond account was closed and when I checked my NS&I acount it reported a £0 balance and no premium bond account.

Since then nothing despite numerous phone calls and my raiaing a complaint.

I just hope this doesn't drag on too long...

Thrugelmir

JK2021 said:

Well it seems I am just another victim of NS&I and whatever game it is they are playing. 

In case you've missed the news recently recently no one is playing games. Complaining to all and sundry is simply causing unneccesary unproductive work that wastes valuable time. Then people wonder why everything takes far longer........

thepurplepixie

I've taken money out twice in the last 2 weeks.  One request online on the 31st December and due to the bank holiday I didn't get the money until the 5th, another request on Monday and the money was in my account on Tuesday.  Both were under £50k and I think it takes longer if it is over £50k but I felt I had good service.  Hope everyone gets their money soon.

newatc

Thrugelmir said:

JK2021 said:

Well it seems I am just another victim of NS&I and whatever game it is they are playing. 

In case you've missed the news recently recently no one is playing games. Complaining to all and sundry is simply causing unneccesary unproductive work that wastes valuable time. Then people wonder why everything takes far longer........

I understand your point but there appears to be large sums of money "disappearing", you have to be a very cool person not to be concerned about the situation as described and be trying desperately to get someone to do something.
There appears to many incidents, an email reassuring customers that there is a just a delay and it will be sorted with some compensation wouldn't go amiss.

Thrugelmir

newatc said:

Thrugelmir said:

JK2021 said:

Well it seems I am just another victim of NS&I and whatever game it is they are playing. 

In case you've missed the news recently recently no one is playing games. Complaining to all and sundry is simply causing unneccesary unproductive work that wastes valuable time. Then people wonder why everything takes far longer........

I understand your point but there appears to be large sums of money "disappearing", you have to be a very cool person not to be concerned about the situation as described and be trying desperately to get someone to do something.
There appears to many incidents, an email reassuring customers that there is a just a delay and it will be sorted with some compensation wouldn't go amiss.

With many staff working from home , off sick,  having childcare responsibilities etc. There's bound to be a huge amount of  disruption. Times aren't normal. Delays are only to be expected.  Not helped by the sudden cut in interest rates which must have caused a tsunami of additional work. 

Who is going to send the emails you suggest?  Yet more unproductive work.