Buying Premium Bonds

Deckie

I have an LPA registered with mum’s bank to say that I manage her finances on her behalf. This is mainly because mum is 95, can’t see very well and doesn’t understand financial matters, rather than because she is incapacitated. I’m trying to buy some Premium Bonds for her by setting up a new account in her name with her details and linked to her bank account. When you examine NS&I’s process for this it says that before I can set up a new account for her I have to send them a certified copy of mum’s LPA which then has to be examined and registered. That’s going to a long and costly exercise, especially if I have to engage a solicitor (I’m seeing costs of about £100 online). So on an online chat with NS&I I asked the advisor why I can’t just create a new account for her exactly as though she had done it herself but they insisted that I have to send them a certified copy of the LPA. I asked what would happen if I opened her an account myself, the only difference being that I’m moving the mouse instead of her and the end result would be exactly the same with her own details. She said that if I did that, they would raise it as fraud because I’ve already told them about it on the chat! I asked her to confirm that she knew who I was (I wasn’t even logged in on the site) but she didn’t respond. I said that it didn’t make any sense but she just repeated the same and then ended the chat session.

Has anyone come across this before? I’m tempted to just go ahead and set up the account with mum sitting next to me, I can’t think of any reason why it would make any difference and how they would know I had operated the computer instead of mum. The only implication I can think of is if by some chance mum has a big win, the man comes round with the cheque and for some reason I can’t imagine, he says that the account has been created fraudulently and that the prize is null and void. Could that happen?

Teapot55

In the ten years or so since I went online to manage my premium bonds (having had paper premium bonds since childhood) the security has become incredibly strong. It was a bit of a rigamarole ten years ago, saying that, involving letters by post & separate letters with code numbers in, very like opening a bank account. 

A friend of mine I’ve known for more than twenty years has finally become well off enough to afford lots of premium bonds but he’s having the devil’s own job trying to do this, having mislaid his expired passport and doesn’t drive, so no driving licence. 

Due to a bad speech impediment he finds it very difficult & embarrassing to speak on the phone (he manages his bank account by visiting the branch where they know him) but, guess what, you even have to phone NS&I to have their information literature sent to you, because, guess what, your friendly local post office isn’t connected with National Savings any more & doesn’t seem to have the leaflets. 

Anyway, when I phoned NS&I to ask for the leaflet(s) so he could decide what to do with his money they were ever so twitchy & wanted to know who I was & what my customer number was & everything, even though I was just asking for leaflets. 

I really, really wouldn’t ‘pretend’ to be your mother @Deckie, not now they know the situation & I think your suspicion of what might happen is correct. 

I’m not really helping am I? I think you’ll have to do what they’re demanding & nothing different as their security is so tight - and rightly with potentially huge sums of money involved. 

(I fully expect to discover that my friend still won’t have managed to renew his passport & buy his premium bonds when we meet up again in December, or indeed to open up any new bank accounts - despite help from his support worker - and that his inheritance well north of £85k will still be in his current account 😧)

Deckie

Many thanks for that Teapot55, sounds like NS&I are more hot on security than when I opened my account and that I will need to go through the process 😕.

Deckie

I just found out that my local Post Office will certify up to 3 copies for £12.75. Worth noting if anyone in similar circumstances didn’t know (I don’t think the doctor will be very willing to annotate and sign all 15 pages).

Teapot55

Deckie said:

I just found out that my local Post Office will certify up to 3 copies for £12.75. Worth noting if anyone in similar circumstances didn’t know (I don’t think the doctor will be very willing to annotate and sign all 15 pages).

My goodness, that's useful to know. I wonder if they provide other services like certifying birth certificates. Definitely worth asking next time I'm buying stamps etc.

Deckie

It won’t let me post links on here, try Googling "post office document certification".

Deckie

When you download the form it says that due to Crown copyright regulations Birth, Marriage & Death certificates cannot be certified as part of the service.

Ms_Chocaholic

It says you can buy PB by post:

If you’re buying for yourself
For your first investment, you can buy online, by phone, by post, or by switching money
from another NS&I account. Once you have bought your first Premium Bonds, you can
also buy more Bonds by electronic transfer.
How you can pay:
• online or by phone using your UK debit card
• by post using a personal cheque (payable to NS&I) drawn on your UK bank or building
society account, or a banker’s draft or building society branch cheque
• switching money from another NS&I account – visit nsandi.com/switching or call us
• by electronic transfer from your UK bank or building society account.

Deckie

Thanks Ms_Chocaholic, will probably be buying online using a debit card but the main issue was first setting up a new account for someone else who has an LPA. Looks like I’ll need to follow the official process.

Deckie

Deckie said:

I just found out that my local Post Office will certify up to 3 copies for £12.75. Worth noting if anyone in similar circumstances didn’t know (I don’t think the doctor will be very willing to annotate and sign all 15 pages).

Apparently NS&I don’t accept copies certified using the Post Office service, you have to send in the original or pay about £100 to have a copy certified by a solicitor or notary (same thing).

Ms_Chocaholic

You might be able to share it digitally, see here (dependent on when it was registered).

https://www.nsandi-adviser.com/lasting-power-attorney-registration-now-digital