NS&I has issued a warning about a situation where you cannot reinvest your Premium Bonds, with a customer waiting over two months for their prize cheque to arrive.
The saver initially contacted NS&I in July to ask about what the process would be for them to reinvest their February and July winnings in buying more Bonds.
Customers often use their prize winnings to buy more Bonds, so increasing their chances of bagging another prize.
NS&I responded to the saver to explain how best to secure their winnings. The group responded: “If you have any prizes that are unclaimed, you will need to either cash them and reinvest them into the Bonds by purchasing more, or send the prize cheque back to us at NS&I Sunderland, SR43 2SB with the application form linked below.”
They included a link to a form on the NS&I website entitled ‘Application to buy Premium Bonds for yourself or your child under 16′.
But the customer was unsure they had been directed to the right document. They said: “Are you sure this form is the correct one?
“Where does it allow me to buy more Bonds with the winning cheque I’m returning because I can’t cash it in where I live now – which is in Australia.”
NS&I then assured them this was the right form and instructed them how to fill it in given their situation, stating: “Under section 2a ‘Paying by cheque’, write ‘Find enclosed prize warrants’ and send it with the warrants to NS&I Sunderland, SR43 2SB.”
The customer expressed their thanks and said they would fill out the form and return their cheque from February and “follow the instructions on the website” to get their July winnings reinvested.
But they encountered another problem sorting out the issue, asking later: “Why is the website so hard to use? I can’t find anywhere to reinvest the July winnings into Premium Bonds!?
“Am I missing something? I thought it would be made easy to do that through the website once logged in.”
NS&I then spelled out a key restriction on Bonds being reinvested, explaining: “Once a prize has been issued, they cannot be directly reinvested.
“You would need to either send the prize warrant back to us with an application form, or cash the prize to your bank and purchase more Bonds.”
The customer then contacted NS&I again this week (September 12) as their cheque had still not arrived. They asked: “I’m still waiting for the July winnings cheque. Any ideas why it’s taking so long to get to my home address in Australia?”
NS&I responded to say they had replied to a direct message from the customer about the matter.
People can choose to have their winnings paid into their bank account, sent out as a cheque or reinvested in buying more Bonds.
