Dealing with NS&I regarding premium bonds

Sambabooth

My wife and I decided to each invest £50,000 in premium bonds. We filled in the paperwork and cheques and sent them off. Whoosh! the money was out of our joint account before you could blink. We that was easy. My wife received a text on the 12th of April confirming our premium bonds. In the post today (16th of April) we received a request from NS&I for ID. My wife and I photocopied our passports and driving licences and were about to post them off (unpaid envelopes provided) when my wife noticed that our ID's had to be witnessed by a professional. We have just moved to a new area and I don't know anybody of note apart from our dentist who is 33 miles away. One suggestion by NS&I was our doctor. I thought this a rather ridiculous suggestion particularly during this time but as our surgery is just round the corner we thought that we'd try. As expected we were promptly told that doctors do not engage in that sort of thing anymore. Now for some reason our ID's have to be with NS&I by the 3rd of May. My wife called the helpline and explained that we could get our dentist to sign our ID's but we won't be seeing him until the 4th of May. No good. It has to be the 3rd. Why? We lost patience and decided to not bother and ask for our money to be returned and we'd just put it in a savings account. We have now tried to cancel over the phone using the unique reference numbers provided. Not good enough. We have to write to NS&I and request the cancellation. What a nonsense practice. All this after we have already purchased £100,000 of premium bonds. Why do they not go through this outdated process of identification prior to taking our money? The cynic in me has an idea. I have written an official letter of complaint listing a few questions that we want answering regarding this matter. I will let you know the answers when I get them.

colsten

I verification is an integral part of anti-money laundering procedures at financial institutions.

The Post Office does verification of documents for a small fee. https://www.postoffice.co.uk/identity/in-branch-verification-service

ranciduk

I did it all online 

no ID was requested at all!

ColdIron

Are you on the Electoral roll yet?

MX5huggy

You can send the original documents if you want. You’ve already risked £100k in the post so I don’t think it’s a serious risk if you send them recorded. 

Or get a local solicitor to certify (there will be charge probably).

https://www.nsandi.com/help/join-nsandi/evidence-of-identity

colsten

MX5huggy said:

 You’ve already risked £100k in the post

Are you saying the OP sent uncrossed cheques, or left the recipient blank?

MX5huggy

colsten said:

MX5huggy said:

 You’ve already risked £100k in the post

Are you saying the OP sent uncrossed cheques, or left the recipient blank?

I don’t think it would be particularly difficult to change the payee name on a cheque or just copy the details on to a new cheque. There’s some security features like magnetic ink but You can deposit smaller cheques just with a photo so photo the cheque edit it photoshop print it again and load it in the app.

IvanOpinion

If not there by 3rd of May you could miss the June draw.

colsten

MX5huggy said:

colsten said:

MX5huggy said:

 You’ve already risked £100k in the post

Are you saying the OP sent uncrossed cheques, or left the recipient blank?

I don’t think it would be particularly difficult to change the payee name on a cheque or just copy the details on to a new cheque. There’s some security features like magnetic ink but You can deposit smaller cheques just with a photo so photo the cheque edit it photoshop print it again and load it in the app.

Show us the app which lets you deposit a £50K cheque. Or just a £5K one.