NS&I Premium Bonds

croc1

Recently deposited max amount in premium bonds on 2/1/26 and stupidly thought I would be in the Feb draw. After receiving docs realised it was the March draw (nearly 2 months!!) my fault for not checking and I tried to cancel but told that the transaction was pending. Since then have rang several times and got a vague reply about 3 working days but that they would email the relevant department. Rang yesterday 8/1/26 and told I wouldn't get my money back till the 12th January (10 days!!)  because my transaction may not have been received. The £50k went out of my account immediately and I can't believe they have the neck to say that. Anyway what happened to the cooling off period? Appalling customer service and will not not be using again. Rang them again today 12/1/26 and told will have to wait till 19/1/26. On the phone for quite a long time with a clueless individual who had no idea what he was doing.   

Flugelhorn

probably wouldn't have won anything in Feb anyway 

eskbanker

What cooling off period?  It's a product where you can access your money at any time, even though that isn't instantaneous as such - when did you first request the withdrawal?

You may choose to represent the end to end timescale as "10 days!!" from start to finish but of course four of those are weekend days and both deposit and withdrawal timescales are specified in terms of business days.

croc1

Requested the withdrawal online on the 1st day. As I mentioned in my post the system did not allow me to cancel. Rang on Monday morning 5/1/26 as they were closed over the weekend. In this day and age do you condone this type of customer service ? No excuse in this day and age. 

TheMilkmansDad

So you transferred on the 2nd Jan - what time? Assuming after 4.30pm then allow 3 working days to show in your account - so 7th Jan.

8th Jan requested funds back; allow 3 working days if before 4.30 - 12th Jan.

I don't see the issue. If you've not read the T&Cs properly then you can hardly blame NS&I. Guess it's the blame culture we now live in where it's always someone else's fault. People need to take responsibility.

eskbanker

croc1 said:

Requested the withdrawal online on the 1st day. As I mentioned in my post the system did not allow me to cancel. Rang on Monday morning 5/1/26 as they were closed over the weekend. In this day and age do you condone this type of customer service ? No excuse in this day and age. 

NS&I aren't exactly renowned for swift and responsive processes, but given they're effectively a government agency rather than a truly commercial organisation, I'd set expectations accordingly - were you assuming that payments in each direction would be immediate Faster Payments perhaps, rather than the timescales set out in the documentation, which reflect the use of the older BACS system?

Kim_13

Even if the bonds were included in the next draw, why buy on the 2nd and lose 29 days on a sum like £50k? If you were worried you might fail electronic verification and be required to provide documents thereby slowing down the process, you could have put £25 in on the 2nd and £49,975 on the 25th (the final Sunday of the month, if you were likely to be too busy on a working day.)

Customer service is getting worse in this day and age in my experience, not better. They could add a tick box to acknowledge you understood you had to hold the bonds for a full calendar month before they would be included in the draw, but no doubt there will be some who tick these things without reading them or expect that buying on the 1st would be sufficient for the bonds to be included in the next draw. I can't see that they will ever do away with the must hold for a calendar month following the month you bought them term, since it incentivises reinvestment of prizes as those bonds do qualify for the next draw. Especially in the case of Premium Bonds, NS&I know they can be as slow as they like since they are one of the only tax free savings vehicles available. I don't condone it, it's just the way it is. Short of some sort of law being introduced that their current practices would fall foul of, they have no reason to speed up.

friolento

Unfortunately, and for unknown reasons, NS&I take 7 working days before you can request a withdrawal money from their easy access accounts. 

You might be able, however, to request the withdrawal on working day 6 after about 22:30. If this works, you do get your money on working day 7. If you request the withdrawal on working day 7, you won't get your money until working day 8. I have learned this the hard way over many months using their Direct Saver for short term deposits.