NS&I Green Bonds Issue 4 8 February at 12:58AM edited 8 February at 11:03AM in Savings & investments 20 replies 2.3K views

cricidmuslibale

According to www.moneyfacts.co.uk, NS&I have released Issue 4 of their Green Savings Bonds, paying a considerably improved interest rate of 4.20% (previously 3.00%) on a minimum investment amount of only £100 fixed for 3 years. The maximum permitted investment amount is £100,000.

For me, this now makes these bonds attractive enough in interest rate terms to consider them very seriously, at long last!

ETA: This latest Issue 4 was actually released yesterday (Feb 7) according to the NS&I media release which you can reach via the 2nd of the two links direct to NS&I that are kindly provided by @eskbanker below.

eskbanker

cricidmuslibale said:

According to www.moneyfacts.co.uk, NS&I have just released Issue 4 of their Green Bonds...

And straight from the horse's mouth!

https://www.nsandi.com/products/green-savings-bonds
https://nsandi-corporate.com/news-research/news/420-green-savings-bonds-issue-4

cricidmuslibale

One major plus for me with NS&I’s Green Savings Bonds is that the minimum investment amount is only £100! The vast majority of fixed term accounts have a minimum investment amount of either £500, including e.g. NS&I’s Guaranteed Growth Bonds and Guaranteed Income Bonds, or much more usually, £1000!

And, unfortunately for savers with lower amounts of available capital, quite a few fixed term accounts paying close to the best interest rates have minimum investment amounts of £5000, £10000 or even as high as £25000!

Band7

It does indeed put NS&I on nearly the same footing as Tandem's 3 year bond  which pays 4.2% from £1. Probably also ideal for people who prefer online banking to app banking. Still, I would go for one of the higher rate ones which can be had from £1,000.

Swipe

What puts me off these is the fact that 3 years interest is paid all in one go at the maturity date

Fixed-rate is guaranteed for the whole term. Interest is earned daily and added once a year on the investment's anniversary, and paid on maturity.

So does this mean 3 years' worth of interest is liable for tax in the year it is paid or each year it is added?

ColdIron

Swipe said:

What puts me off these is the fact that 3 years interest is paid all in one go at the maturity date

Fixed-rate is guaranteed for the whole term. Interest is earned daily and added once a year on the investment's anniversary, and paid on maturity.

So does this mean 3 years' worth of interest is liable for tax in the year it is paid or each year it is added?

         

poppystar

Is the interest taxable? 

Yes, in the tax year your Bond matures

How much can I start with?

£100 

What’s the max. I can save? 

£100,000 per person 

…from NS&I site - so In year it is paid

Swipe

poppystar said:

…from NS&I site - so In year it is paid

No good for me then

DietIrnBru

Reading the practicality behind the bonds though - the money goes into the general account of the UK - is then ring fenced and directed to "green projects" - given the lack of integrity, extent of cronyism demonstrated during covid and in supposed green projects around Tyneside freeports - I'd be very relucant to commit to green bonds - given that it may be driven less by what works and more for what the governments rent seekers want. I appreciate no financial instrument may be completely clean - but the current corrupt government - is not one I would willingly give cash to - tax is another matter.

Albermarle

ColdIron said:

Swipe said:

What puts me off these is the fact that 3 years interest is paid all in one go at the maturity date

Fixed-rate is guaranteed for the whole term. Interest is earned daily and added once a year on the investment's anniversary, and paid on maturity.

So does this mean 3 years' worth of interest is liable for tax in the year it is paid or each year it is added?

         

At least you know where you stand on when the interest is reported to HMRC. From other threads it seems with many providers it is less than clear, and some seem to report it when the yearly interest is added on, even though it is unavailable for withdrawal.

db3745

I wonder if someone can give me an idea of whether my Green Bond application is likely to have gone through - I suspect it hasn't. I was logged in, filled it all in along with amount, then broke off momentarily to look at T & Cs, then came back to just the confirm button. Pressed it, and was back to my accounts screen with only my present account listed. Nothing appeared to tell me what would happen next; obviously can't think about funding it. I suspect it's been abandoned. Don't really want to call them but they offer nothing else. I've live chatted with 2 other banks today no problem, but these people only have the useless chatbot which is still learning of course.