Premium Bond prizes (Rant) (again): payment via BACS?????

It might surprise you, but there are still people who do not, or will not, have a bank account. And they'll use the recent shenanigans as evidence that their decision is a wise one.

Fair enough. It's a free world. But at least offer BACS as an option.

Well, NS&I have to be complemented on the speed of their reply, and it's reasonably comprehensive:

================= We have investigated amalgamating prize warrants and continue to look for options. Unfortunately at this time our systems do not have the capability to collate all the prizes into one envelope. The prizes are grouped by value and Bond number not customer name.

Not all customers are lucky enough to win multiple prizes or indeed on a frequent basis. As some customers may not be as familiar with winning a prize the 'congratulations' slip is to inform our customers exactly what has been sent to them. It also contains important information on what they needto do with the warrant to claim their prize. It would be unfair for us to assume that customers would automatically recognise the warrant as a prize and know what to do with the warrant.

Under the Association of Payment and Clearing Services (APACS) guidelines we are unable to print anything on the reverse of the warrant. We do make use of the counterfoil by printing the customers name and address and winning Bond number details. We do not have control over the quality of paper, therefore printing on the reverse may impact the visibility of the name and address. To avoid this we print separate 'congratulations' slips to communicate important information to our customers.

We do appreciate that it is frustrating to see identical envelopes arriving every month, but I hope this information helps clarify the reasons for our methods. We continue to look at efficiencies in our business.

I understand your frustrations regarding not having your prize wins paid by BACS, however there are currently 23 million Premium Bond customers so making any changes becomes far more complex.

As part of our review of our IT systems NS&I is looking at providing additional options including the option to have Premium Bond prizes automatically paid to bank accounts but significant changes to the IT systems are required.

A major review of our IT systems is taking place over the next few years but at this point in time I am unable to provide any further information.

=================

So what will they do with the crossed cheque from the premium bonds? It has to be paid into a bank account does it not?

Robert

"RobertL" wrote

NS&I don't give you crossed cheques from premium bonds...

How do they cash their Premium Bond Cheques? Derek

They, er, cash them. That is, they convert them to cash.

What they obviously can't do is bank their Premium Bond cheques. But if they don't want to, that's not a problem for them.

Mark

They're not cheques, they are warrants (whatever that actually means). As the other poster says, the Post Office will pay out cash on them. The last time I tried, they do this in return for an unchecked signature so possibly they are "pay to bearer" instruments.

tim

I didn't know that. So if a stolen one is cashed the thief cannot be traced.

In message , Tim wrote

Although they are called warrants (NS&I state that they are like cheques) they are crossed with the words "ACCOUNT PAYEE ONLY"

The accompanying slip says " Please sign the warrant and pay it into your bank as soon as possible" No other method for payment is specified!

So going back to your original point about security... if they're not crossed, there's no security. And if they are, well, I guess you can still "open the crossing" by signing across it. Or am I getting confused in my old age?

"Alan" wrote

Exactly ... they are crossed warrants, *not* crossed cheques...

Is there a difference other than in name? They are described as "like cheques", but in what way(s) are they unlike cheques?

If they are capable of being cashed directly (as someone up-thread claimed could be done, for example by people who don't have a bank account), this would seem to imply that the crossing on the warrant is ineffective.

You did not have to prove your identity? Derek

It's ages since I took one into a post office, so no!

tim