Struggling to open an NS&I Guaranteed Income Bond

vadek

I've posted some content in another thread about this but I'm getting frustrated. All I want to do is open an NS&I Guaranteed Income Bond, but I keep falling at the hurdles. I was hoping to do a bank transfer to NS&I but, for some reason, this isn't allowed. They only allow debit card transactions. To make sure my bank (Lloyds) would let me pay a large sum with a debit card, I visited my local branch and they told me that there is no limit on debit card transactions. So, back home, I went ahead with my application - which was immediately blocked by Lloyds as being too large. I'm currently on hold to Lloyds (15 minutes so far) to ask why I was given false information by the branch. I'm also fed up of being told to use the app to resolve my issue. After this, I'm going to look at bank swap deals…

flaneurs_lobster

While it's true there's no limit on debit card transactions (I've paid cash for a brand-new car by debit card) they have pulled you up for some other reason.

No doubt they'll say "security" and "can't discuss details" but it'll be interesting why they think paying into a Government-backed savings product is somehow problematic.

How much were you trying to shift?

Got a second account you could try?

eskbanker

The requirement for funding by debit card (or other NS&I account) is clearly explained in the product summary box:

How do I open and manage my account?
Buying a new Bond
The Bonds are for customers aged 16 or over. You can hold them in your own name or jointly with one
other person. You can also hold them in trust for one or more individuals.
You can:
• apply for your Guaranteed Income Bond online only
• invest at least £500, paid by a debit card in your own name, issued by a UK bank
• invest up to a total of £1 million per person in the current Issue
If you want to switch to a Guaranteed Income Bond from another NS&I account or investment, visit
nsandi.com/forms

https://www.nsandi.com/files/asset/pdf/guaranteed-income-bonds-summary-n.pdf

Re "immediately blocked by Lloyds as being too large", how exactly did they convey that, rather than simply declining the transaction without nominating a specific cause?

Heytheremrblue

I use NS&I a fair bit so I opened a Direct Saver and use that to transfer to Bonds and Premium Bonds etc.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82131312#Comment_82131312

Any reason to think that a chunky deposit by debit card to a Direct Saver is less likely to be blocked than one to an Income Bond?

Is the idea to make several smaller payments to the DS before using the funds for the 1-off Bond purchase?

cc123mm456

The Direct Saver allows deposits by Faster Payments or by Open Banking.

Only the first payment to open the Direct Saver needs to be by debit card, but that can be £1.

In fact it's not a good idea to deposit funds in the Direct Saver by debit card (after the first opening one), because NS&I require 7 banking days to clear the payment, before it will be available for transfer out.

I also use a Direct Saver to gather the funds. It's very easy to then choose "Pay from another NS&I account" when opening any other NS&I products.

It can also be useful for transferring funds back out of NS&I. In some cases the transfer delay is shorter using the Direct Saver as an interim account (1 day instead of 2 days).

Heytheremrblue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82131325#Comment_82131325

Well my Bank is a bloody nightmare they seem to block just about everything no matter what …. I suppose some Banks maybe easier to deal with…. I just prefer to get it all in one place then just say I want x in this please no matter what the ammount.

kempiejon

I've had a few interactions delivered at what I consider to be below acceptable from my banking, saving, credit card suppliers. One could have a cry, come online for a moan but for recompense and a naïve expectation of a better future they need to be held to account. I've had all my complaints upheld, some platitudes and hard cash.
Every institution I have had caused to complain to have a pretty good formal process and so far I have felt listened to. I have never complained about NS&I nor Lloyds

Mrs_Z

Could it be that you need to approve the transaction with the bank's app?

When I opened NS&I fixed bond recently, I was directed to approve the sum with the banking app.

Just thinking that if you don't have the app to approve, it may automatically block it.

vadek

Many thanks for all the responses.

To answer some of your questions: I attempted to pay £90K into an NS&I Guaranteed Income Bond. I was asked to approve this payment on the Lloyds phone app, which I did. The payment was then blocked by the bank. I called Lloyds and was given contradictory info to that which the local branch gave me, in that there IS a restriction on Debit card payments but there's no specific numerical limit. So my payment was just "too large". 🙄

Incidentally, I could open a bond for any amount by post with cheque, according to NS&I, but I don't know if Lloyds would allow this. Unfortunately, there's nowhere on the NS&I website to download the necessary form (they're sending it to me by post).

Regardless, I've given up on NS&I and opened a couple of monthly income savings accounts. I'll use the £25K daily faster payments limit to populate them over a week or two. My risk is then that the accounts could be withdrawn before I've finished the transfers. I've just realised that another option is to head back to the branch with ID and proof that I have these accounts and get them to do bigger transfers. But, to be honest, I've run out of the energy to do this.

Having spoken to Lloyds on the phone, they're going to send me some special codes which I can then use on the phone to approve bigger transfers in future. I'm not sure how I'll get through to a human on the phone, though. It was a major struggle today and I only achieved it by telling the bot why I was calling in a very long complex sentence which it couldn't handle. 😊

Whew! 😕

flaneurs_lobster

Well £90k is a big old wodge to be moving in a oner, can kind of see why Lloyd's held it. As you say, maybe on that visit to the branch you could have asked them to do the transfer for you (if the NS&I account was awaiting funds at that point) even if it were just overseeing your DC use.