NS&I - bonkers system!

[Wonderbug81]

Just tried to open an NS & I account to buy premium bonds and they don't have my address on their system.

This used to happen sometimes when I moved in as I live in a flat which is a house conversion but I got my details updated on Royal Mail. Most institutions can find my address including HMRC, mortgage lenders and main retailers but the NS and I advisor said it's not on their systems and the only way to open an account is via the post with a cheque.

I don't even own a cheque book anymore. 😂

I had an issue with transferring an isa away from them last year and it was the most tedious and antiqued process, they dealt with everything via letter as couldn’t use email, and also talked about issuing a cheque to the transferee. So this doesn’t surprise me at all.

premium bonds are a truly shit "investment" anyway. They're just a perpetual lottery ticket

They are a nightmare. As a PP stated there systems are so outdated most things have to be done by letter and postal forms. I would look at other investments to be honest. Especially if you may want to access your money quickly as they do absolutely nothing quickly.

NSI is awful to deal with. I have some old premium bonds and wanted to invest in some more. I didn't have a "holder number" as it wasn't shown on the certificates I already had. I phoned them and they couldn't understand my problem and kept saying I had to register online, but I kept explaining that when I entered my details their system kept saying "we can't register you, contact our customer services"! First time, they finally agreed to send me a paper form for me to fill out to ask for online access, user name and holder name, temp password etc. Nothing came. A month later I phoned again, same kind of "doom loop" as they couldn't understand my problem, so eventually they said they'd send the form. Which they did this time! I filled it in and sent it back. Nothing, so a couple of months later I phoned again, they couldn't find the completed form on their system, and the guy didn't know such a form even existed and insisted on going through "online security" with me, which we did, painfully detailed, and at the end of it, basically said, they'd post out my holder number, online user name and temp password. Nothing arrived. Two months later, I tried again, another half hour on the phone, going through security again, another promise of a letter with the online details. Nothing came. At that point, over six months since I first tried, I gave up and went online to ask for my existing bonds to be cashed in - no need for user name, no need for password, no need for holder number - just entered the bond numbers and my bank details and the money came through a few days later. Bonkers that it was so hard to buy new bonds, but so easy (and no security!) to withdraw them.

You can fill in an online "cashing in" form which worked quickly for me, no need for bondholder number, passwords, etc.

Winnings are tax free. If you’ve maxed out your ISA allowance, they’re better than a lot of other investments

IF you win. But taxed savings interest is better than no interest..

I win prizes every month. I’m ahead vs a high interest savings account plus no tax declaration headaches. Win win!

I literally wanted to put a couple of hundred quid in as a punt (I save in lots of other more efficient ways) but given the hassle it's not worth it! I do know a few people who've won on them incl. £10k in one case.

Interesting. Do you mind asking roughly how much you have invested e.g. are we talking hundreds or a lot more? I know someone who won £10k with a couple of thousand invested.

It was a right faff setting mine up because it said I already had an account. I ended up calling them and it was sorted very quickly. They spelt my first name wrong but 🤷‍♀️

Yes this was just going to be a small punt as I use other savings systems but so not worth it!

I think if you have the maximum amount invested they say that with average luck you should win a prize every few months.
(but those prizes would very probably be the smallest ones, because obviously there are many more of those.)
I have about 30k invested and had a look at my prize history the other day -- none at all in 2025.

You're lucky then. DH and I both have full holdings. It's because we are maxed out on pensions and ISAs and have high savings levels. DH has literally won twice £25 in nearly two years. I have had £600 in total. We are moving ours.

When I moved house I rang them to change my address as I couldn’t work out how to do it online. They couldn’t do it over the phone but said they’d send me a form to fill in. To my new address….

I win loads every month, much better than my other alleged investments - hoping nobody else jumps on bandwagon and reduces our prizes

Won’t the address finder be from a third party so maybe one that doesn’t have the updated info?

Bonkers SQUARED. 😆

That's what I thought but the third party ones are the sames ones mortgage lenders, utilities and retailers use, and if they can't find me on the system they can amend manually. This is an NS&I problem because other financial institutions haven't had an issue.

I've usually found them very helpful. I am quite antique myself so don't really mind 'antiqued' (!) systems. I find their online system reasonably easy to use compared to others.

Their interest rates are reasonable. However I have discovered that mail forwarded correspondence from old to new address doesn't happen for their correspondence. Which is a bit mad.

I will have to deal with them again soon so hopefully I haven't jinxed myself!