NS&I delays

[Isit2021yetplease]

Has anyone tried to get money out of NS&I recently? We sold our house a few weeks ago and are waiting to buy our new one. To protect the money we put in NS&I as they 100% protect up to £2m (sadly not that much in there! But more than the £85k limit).
We are now preparing to exchange on onward property. Tried to transfer money out of account - need to call for security purposes - fine. It starts with "please press # if you are expecting this call" - but then doesn't register when I do press # so cuts me off!
Now I can't even get into my account as it takes me straight to the security checks - which I can't get through as it won't recognise the #.

Can't get through on phone as they're "too busy" and ends up cutting off.

Having a total panic that our money (while it may be "safe") is now completely inaccessible and will mean we can't exchange / complete on new purchase.
Has anyone managed to retrieve money from either premium bonds or direct saver recently?

Hundreds of thousands of small investors face delays of up to two weeks getting their capital out of the state-backed savings organisation as it grapples with staff shortages owing to the coronavirus.

Just googled and found this ^ Wish I'd googled before I shifted all my saving over :(

Eek this is exactly what we are planning to do once we complete at the end of the month, but going to rental rather than new property.... will bear in mind for when I want to move on.

Oh gosh, that is bad. Is their web chat open?
Twitter?
For others, the FSCS limit is £1million for temporary balances for six months in situations such as this.

Hold on, that was in April. Maybe they are still struggling a bit with staff WFH. Another reason to get back into the offices!

I've been dealing with NS&I for my parents probate, and they have been the slowest of all the organisations I've dealt with. It took months to just get the balance on their accounts, and weeks so far from putting the probate document in to close the accounts

Gosh will keep an eye on this as we are likely to be in same boat in coming months

I had this, luckily not a massive amount but it was terrible, I think they say to allow 6-8 weeks.

I completed the paperwork and then they wanted by signature witnessed so more delays. The money was returned but just went into my bank, no communication at all.

Dreadful service and certainly allow 6 weeks.

Eek oh wow I definitely didn't do my research - I just was told that's it's the only way to protect over £85k and did it merrily.
A warning to anyone else - I've gone down a twitter rabbit hole and see this has happened to 100s of people - so if you're likely to need your money in any quick fashion then please don't do as we did!

This has the potential to make us lose the purchase as our vendors are going into a new build with a tight exchange deadline as part of the contract - don't make my mistake!!

Web chat not on - and twitters tells you they can't deal with specific account queries on social media, so call the helpline...when you call the helpline it tells you they're too busy unless it's absolutely urgent do it online. But when you can't get online, then can't get through even when you deem it "urgent" you're in a bit of a pickle...!

Wow thanks for the heads up, we were going to do this with our house sale money but it doesn’t sound good.
Problem is where else can we put it ?

NS&I have been massively overwhelmed as they’re now offering some of the highest interest rates to savers so lots of people have been moving money to them, increasing their workloads.

But when you can't get online, then can't get through even when you deem it "urgent" you're in a bit of a pickle

Is there no option to do an online transfer?

Is it because of the amount you are trying to transfer? Could you do smaller amounts over a few days?

I know someone who works for NS&I. Martin Lewis mentioned a particular account on tv and now they're completely overwhelmed, they're struggling to keep up with demand but it's impossible at the moment.

Just to update anyone I did eventually manage to “unlock” my account (after they told me online the only way to do it was to post them a form and I thought that was definitely the end!)
Did an online transfer and thankfully the security phone check worked this time. Got a call from Ns&I the next day to check I did want to clear my account and funds came in 2 days later.

So actually once the system worked it did transfer quickly, it was the glitchy system and inability to get hold of anyone which added the extra 3/4 days to the process. Panic over!