Nsandi.com - is this genuine?

[User5512]

I’m looking to invest a large sum of money. I understand it’s govt backed etc, is this website genuine??
pls can anyone confirm?

www. Nsandi.com

Yeah that was my “put it all on red” Vegas moment 😏. Totally done on a whim, probably when I’d had a drink, looking at the stagnating interest rates and pissed off every month when the financial industry was whispering about interest rates BOUND to be rising soon, then they didn’t. Till they did. 😫🤬

Oh welll. You win some. You lose some. I did have another savings account that was fixed at a good rate for 2 years, prior to that when interest rates kept dropping. But it taught me a lesson not to fix for as long ever again.

i find it interesting looking at the fixed rate offerings of other institutions. Tandem’s rates are static between 1 year and 5 years. A few years back if you fixed for longer you got a better rate.

the NS&I growth bond has to be opened with one payment only. Just say you had 100k to put into it, I’m not sure how you’d transfer the whole lot. Maybe you’d have to open multiple bonds? Which you can.. or maybe your personal banker moves the money for you?!

We’ve had problems opening a bond with them too - debit card kept being declined. We’ve got plenty of funds (trying to invest an inheritance) and no limits on the card/account concerned.

Spoke to my bank (Santander), they said the only alternative is to either do it the old fashioned way by cheque or to open an NS&I saver account, bank transfer the money into that account and then open the Bond with the funds.

It’s a right pain in the arse, the NS&I Saver takes 7-10 days to be approved so I guess I’m going to have to locate the cheque book!

They've been paying me interest and premium bonds for years.
So if it is a scam they're playing the long game with me! 😂

Do you not already hold an NS&I account? I do, for premium bonds (and originally had some old growth bonds a couple of year ago too)

maybe that’s the difference?

@CurlyhairedAssassin i do already have an NS&I account for premium bonds I was given as a child. It’s verifying my ID (and DH’s) without a problem, it’s literally the final step where you make the card payment that it is being declined, even after I approve it through my banking mobile app. It’s very archaic to insist on payments only by debit card or cheque!

Yes it is unusual. I think I’ve seen on the Savings & Investments forum on Moneysavingexpert that some people have had similar issues to you. Hope you get it sorted.

I opened multiple bonds over a couple of days.

So you can have more than one bond in your name?

Yes.

You have to remember that you will pay tax on the interest, particularly if you invest a large amount. I think the tax free limit is £1000 over all investments, higher interest rates will affect more savers.

I don’t know how the tax dept knows how much interest I earn though as I don’t fill in a tax return?

I had to split the amount into multiple bonds of £99k each. Can’t pay with debit card for transactions over £99k.

Bank /NS&I have your NI number. They do regulatory filings to report what they paid out to you (interest)

Can I ask is it simple to change over from premium bond holdings to growth bond? ie can you transfer directly over or do you have to withdraw premium bonds to bank, and then do it with debit card?

Had a look at NSI site and can't figure it out

@Ihateslugs if you are earning interest over your tax-free threshold it is your responsibility to fill out a self assessment form and notify HMRC. Theoretically they can come after you for tax evasion if you don’t.

The problem is that interest rates have been so low for so long that very few people have probably been earning enough in interest to go over the threshold, but with rates going up more people will fall into that bracket.

To illustrate, let’s assume you’ve maxed out your ISA allowance already and we’re talking about savings over and above that.

Based on old rates of 1.5% you would have needed to have about £68,000 in savings before you maxed out your tax-free allowance as a standard rate tax payer (£1000) or £34,000 if you are a higher rate tax payer (£500).

At 5% interest you only need £20,000 in savings to hit the £1,000 allowance as a standard rate tax payer, or £10,000 if you are higher rate.

Ok I stand corrected! You don’t have to report your savings to HMRC as apparently they will know from the banks - weird because I don’t recall giving my NI number when opening some of my savings accounts. Will face to check this out further.

Gov.uk says they will usually adjust your tax code to claim back the tax you owe on savings.

@Ihateslugsif you are earning interest over your tax-free threshold it is your responsibility to fill out a self assessment form and notify HMRC. Theoretically they can come after you for tax evasion if you don’t

That's true if you're not paying tax through a PAYE job or via a pension. Otherwise it is calculated by HMRC and your tax code is adjusted.

(just been reading the government website on this 🙂- thrilling stuff)

@CaveMum - sorry - cross posted with you then!

Yes, they do

https://www.nsandi.com/get-to-know-us/security/protect-your-money

User5512

You can access the NS&I site through the gov.uk website. This is the official government information site. Going via that route should give you confidence that you are not in a scam site. As others have said NS&I are government owned and safe. They also run the monthly premium bonds. You can save up to £50k in premium bonds. View them as lottery tickets rather than an investment for making money. The bonus is you always keep your money even if you don't win.

That's not correct - if you are PAYE then tax due on your salary is collected but not tax due on interest etc. For that you do need to complete a tax return.

Apologies, my previous post is wrong - I was curious so had a look and can see there is a mechanism for banks to report interest to HMRC.

I assume they reconcile it all via NI number (I think you provide this when you open a bank account)?

I'm not sure if it's a legal requirement but I've definitely provided my NI number to open accounts before, when setting up my Chase account last year it even specifically asked if I'm a UK resident for tax purposes.

If you don't already complete a self-assessment then you don't need to do one just because you have gone over the savings allowance, you just need to advise HMRC of the likely amount you will receive and your tax code will be amended accordingly.

CurlyhairedAssassin was correcting her post above that one referring to mainstream banks protection.

Thanks, I was, yes. Didn’t make that clear.