Depositing funds into NS&I Guaranteed Growth Bond

Tudmobile1960

Hello all, this is my first post after just joning.

I will shortly receive a lump sum to invest and was looking at the new rate with NS&I - 4.2% one-year Guaranteed Growth Bond. As I couldn't find the relevant information on their website nor a number to phone, I used their chat function yesterday.

My questions were

• How long after opening an account do I have to deposit funds
• How many deposits can I make during that funding window

The answers I got were

• You can only make one deposit and it has to be made during the application

Surely this cannot be correct. Firstly, how would I make a deposit while applying without having an account where to deposit, and even if I had that I couldn't make a large deposit online due to the restrictions by my bank. Did the adviser advise me wrong?

Has anyone applied recently and can share their experience? Many thanks.

TheMilkmansDad

Guaranteed Growth Bonds

PloughmansLunch

Tudmobile1960 said:

Hello all, this is my first post after just joning.

I will shortly receive a lump sum to invest and was looking at the new rate with NS&I - 4.2% one-year Guaranteed Growth Bond. As I couldn't find the relevant information on their website nor a number to phone, I used their chat function yesterday.

My questions were

• How long after opening an account do I have to deposit funds
• How many deposits can I make during that funding window

The answers I got were

• You can only make one deposit and it has to be made during the application

Surely this cannot be correct. Firstly, how would I make a deposit while applying without having an account where to deposit, and even if I had that I couldn't make a large deposit online due to the restrictions by my bank. Did the adviser advise me wrong?

Has anyone applied recently and can share their experience? Many thanks.

They can only be funded once on opening, so the most effective way I've found is to first open an NS&I Direct Saver and fill that to your heart's content. Once this has the desired amount in (which can take several days or more depending on your bank transfer limits), you can then use this balance to open and fund a Growth or Income Bond. Alternatively you can just open multiple bonds, one for each bank transfer.

SacredStephan

If you already have an NS&I number, then buying a bond is a one-step process. The bond is not an account.

ColdIron

Tudmobile1960 said:

• How long after opening an account do I have to deposit funds

You open the account with the deposit. A debit card transaction is the easiest way

• How many deposits can I make during that funding window

There is no funding window so you cannot make additional deposits. You would open another bond

I couldn't make a large deposit online due to the restrictions by my bank.

There is no problem with multiple bonds but what you can do if just having a single bond is important to you is open a Direct Saver. That's an easy access account that will accept unlimited deposits. Then when you open the GGB you select that as the source of funds

Tudmobile1960

Thank you all for clearing this up for me. I was going by my previous experience with fixed term bonds in other banks, where there has always been a certain period of time after the account opening in which to make multiple deposits. I'll certainly look into the direct saver option, thanks for the advice.

Swipe

Keep an mind that it takes an age with NS&I (about a week and a half) for any money deposited via debit card into a direct saver to become available to purchase a bond. You are probably better off purchasing multiple ones directly from your debit card if you are in a hurry.

friolento

Swipe said:

Keep an mind that it takes an age with NS&I (about a week and a half) for any money deposited via debit card into a direct saver to become available to purchase a bond. You are probably better off purchasing multiple ones directly from your debit card if you are in a hurry.

Instant deposits can be made into the Direct Saver. No need to use a debit card. As mentioned by others, the bond(s) can be funded from the Direct Saver. For large amounts, this is the method I would use.

Kim_13

Debit Card funding would be an option, I'm only aware of HSBC blocking them at a low limit.

friolento

Swipe said:

Call me old school, but personally I'd avoid bank transfers to NS&I. I hate to imagine the timescale and hassle if anything happened to go wrong for whatever reason.

OK, I will call you old school. Mainly because you have not provided any evidence that 1) "pay by bank" is more errorprone than other payment methods, 2) what time and effort it would take if anything did go wrong, and 3) because you entirely ignore the advantages in terms of timescales, effort, and security "pay by bank" offers over other payment methods.

Swipe

Anyone else I would be less sceptical about. It's the fact that it's NS&I that puts me off.