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Granny Bonds


Kong
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Has anyone French resident successfully applied for the 65+ bonds currently on offer in the UK?

I have read elsewhere of the difficulty proving your existence and eligibility as an emigrant. The Maire is, I understand, not regarded by NS&I as being of any significance and cannot endorse my copies of passport, tax document, death certificate etc.

I have followed their instructions sending a cheque and application form. At this point they told me over the phone I only need to do that. They banked the cheque....

I'm now waiting for requests to prove who I am.

If you've applied successfully I would be grateful if you would let me know.
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I applied on 17th January. 4 weeks later I got a letter requesting "documentary proof of identity". They'll only accept a certified copy of my passport if witnessed by the Embassy, Consulate or a lawyer. By the time I've paid for any of these it will not be worth my while. I wrote back and told them to send my money back.

As already pointed out by Q a Life Certificate signed by the mayor is good enough. I've also had NS&I investments for 60 years!! Someone has got it in for us ex-pat pensioners.

They use the blanket excuse of EU Money laundering. Pah!
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 I've also had NS&I investments for 60 years!!

If so, and if you still have these NS&I investments you will have an appropriate reference number.

I applied on line using a reference number associated with my Premium Bonds (admittedly, my home is in the UK) and my application was accepted immediately.

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Kong, I'm in too much of a rush now to find you a recent thread regarding exactly these 65+ bonds.

And, yes, I have been successful.  I have applied for 2 bonds, one for the 2-year term and one for the 4 years.  After some initial resistance on their part, I see today that both my cheques have been cashed.

If you go to your notaire's to verify your passport and tax demand, that would do the trick.  You'd be glad to know that although I have previously fallen out with my notaire, he nonetheless did the necessary and I was not charged.

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Mint, thank you for coming back. It's good to know that the Notaire qualifies! Last time I visited the Notaire he witnessed a sworn oath. No charge. NI&S cashed my cheque straight away - a bit cheeky. I've applied for a 3 year bond, I'll double up on the paperwork and apply for a one year bond as well.
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Mint, that's interesting that you were successful with the notaire; I had been told that a "notaire wouldn't do", it had to be a lawyer (not a government tax collector effectively.

The latest on my saga is that today I received a letter informing me that my complaint was being passed to the complaints department.

I still can't find hard information on the money laundering regulations, although some time ago, when I bought a new car, I was told that it applied to amounts over £10,000 but I've since seen 15,000 euros mentioned (I guess that's going to be the same thing anytime soon!).

I'm really miffed as one of my premium bonds was one of the first issue; I remember using my pocket money (4 week's worth @ 2/6 !!) to go and buy it at our local PO in Manchester!

I have another gripe now about the NS&I online system. I needed to register; you go online and complete the form but then have to PRINT it and post it to Glasgow! That's VERY online! They are supposed to send a password, again by post, but mine never arrived. I phoned them only to be told I now have to complete a "forgotten security details" form and post that ! I can't forget something I never knew in the first place. They don't appear to have thought any of this through very well.
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I phoned them only to be told I now have to complete a "forgotten security details" form and post that !

I think you will find the reason for this procedure, to obtain a temporary password, is a residential issue. I applied for a 3yr Bond in Febuary and after having jumped through all their hoops received my NS and I account number, a week ago, and the letter stated that I would receive a temporary password under separate cover.

Tonight,

having not received the said temporary password, I called to report the

matter. The customer service guy I spoke with stated that a temporary

password had been sent on 3rd March so this would now be cancelled and I

would need to fill out a "forgotten security details" form.

To enable him to initiate this process, he informed me that for security reasons it was necessary for him to carry out a credit rating check to verify my personal information using the electoral register, Experian, Equifax, etc. As a French resident, I failed on all counts..... so he said as a workaround, in view of my residential status, he would post me the relevant form to be filled in, signed and returned to Glasgow.

I suspect that an original temporary password would have been requested to be sent to me automatically, by the system, but because of either country of residence or credit rating the sytem actually said NO. Had I been a UK resident the system, I imagine, would say YES. When I made my original application it was by phone as the address section online defaults to 'UK' only but by phone the operative was able to default my address to France.

Either way I don't need access to the account until this time next year when I will check to ensure the first years interest has been earned and credited to my account.

Regards

cajal

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[quote user="cajal"]I phoned them only to be told I now have to complete a "forgotten security details" form and post that !

I think you will find the reason for this procedure, to obtain a temporary password, is a residential issue.[/quote]

 

Of course it's a residential issue, that's what I'm annoyed about! If I lived in UK it wouldn't happen, so I feel I'm being penalised unfairly. As I said earlier I've had NS&I investments for 60 years. They're quite happy to send the occasional (VERY occasional!) Premium Bond winnings warrant to me here, so why can't they accept that I am the same person, without all this interrogation?

DWP send my State Pension, the bank send my statements;  and I don't understand why they can't simply send me another password. But that's a side issue; what I wanted was an allocation of 65+ bonds without all this red tape.

They were happy to send stuff to me here when I dealt with my late mother's estate; no identity checks then, and we're only talking a couple of years ago. This is NOT rocket science, it's just daft beyond words.

AND they've had my money for a month now, so I wonder who is earning the interest? Answers on a postcard.

 

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[quote user="sid"]Mint, My cheque was cashed a month ago![/quote]

Sid, what happened to me was this:  I sent TWO cheques in 2 separate envelopes because I anticipated that whoever opened the envelope might well manage to "lose" one of the cheques.

Well, ONE cheque was cashed straightaway and the other was returned.

The returned cheque was accompanied by a demand to have my documents verified.  So that was duly done and returned in their pre-paid envelope.  Subsequent to that, that cheque has now been cashed (a couple of days ago).

The other application was dealt with differently.  The cheque was cashed but I had a letter to ask for verified documents as well as answers to other questions such as my place of birth and my French tax reference.

As you have said, there is no logic to what they ask for........after all my place of birth is on the verified copy of my passport and my tax reference number on the verified copy of my tax demand which they have already requested!

Still with me so far?[:)]

Well, my situation now is that they have all the info they wanted plus they have cashed both my cheques.  I have heard nothing further and, whilst only days ago I would have assumed that I have managed to get my bonds, I am now not exactly holding my breath, especially in view of your and Kong's experience.

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Mint, at least you have done as they asked, so I would think you're in with a good chance. I refused to go down the "documented proof" route, and instead I complained, listing all of the grievances that you've seen on here. At the end I asked them to send my money back and, while they're at it, to cash all my Premium Bonds. So here we are several weeks later, no refund of my 65+ money which they cashed 6 weeks ago, no PB refund, and only this week a letter to say that it's been raised to a "complaint" to be investigated.

I thought customer service in France was poor, but this beats it! Just slightly better than a shrug of the shoulders.

Good luck with yours.

 

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Sid, hot off the press!

I have had something today relating to just ONE of my two applications.

My verified docs have been returned and they have ticked the box "Your application is currently being processed"

Please note, still no RESULT! and nothing about the other application.

Mind you, that was the one where I was a bit sarky with remarks like the info you have asked for is already in my verified copy of my passport, tax demand ditto.  PLUS, I believe that I have made an error with the stamp and used one for France instead of Europe.............old age, best off without it!

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A notaire told me today that she could verify that our passport copies were genuine but not a letter from the tax office because she couldn't be sure whether the letter was itself genuine, and that the only way that it could be legally verified was by the tax office themselves who, as I pointed out, weren't on the NS&I prescribed list.

Nevertheless she wrote something on it, and after she stamped it and signed it you couldn't read what she'd written anyway.

Incidentally, some of the points raised here are answered on the NS&I websitre - 7-10 day turnaround time, "we will cash your cheques as soon as we receive them", "the date of your bond will be the date we receive your application".

Steve
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I am a bit surprised by what you have said about the tax letter, Steve.

I took our latest tax demand, for part of this year's estimated amount due.  Obviously, it had our unique tax reference number, names, addresses, etc.

BTW, the accompanying letter to my returned application said that no foreign words were allowed.  My notaire's secretary whose English is excellent wrote a note along the lines of me being known at their office and that she'd seen the originals of the documents.

As a precaution, I wrote "ORIGINAL SEEN" as recommended in the NSI's letter on the copies before they were signed.

I also had my passport photocopied in colour in case there was an issue about the quality of the copies as black-an-white copies of passports tend to be very blurred, what with the hologram and that shiny laminate they put on them.

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I don't know why, but all of our recent tax correspondence has been in black and white, even the Tricolor, and are not obviously originals.

I've just re-read the NS&I letter to me and the included information sheet on the EU Savings Tax Directive and neither mentions foreign words.

I had taken the precaution of writing everything on the certified copies in French and English beforehand and also pointed out to NS&I that our tax number was the numéro fiscal on the tax letter.

Trying to cover all the bases, like you we also made clear colour photocopies.

Watch this space then.....

Steve
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Who the hell is in charge overall, if anyone?

I have noticed that my 2 applications were dealt with differently to the extent that one was returned with a pre-paid envelope and a standard sort of letter accompanying it and the other had reference numbers on the envelope  (not prepaid) and a different sort of letter which does not say exactly the same things as the other one!

Obviously opened by 2 different species of monkeys that have undergone different training programmes...........gggrrrhhhhhhhh

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I think they have changed the way they are handling applications. I was told (on the phone) to send my application with a cheque and nothing else. The cheque was banked immediately and later I received the request for certified copies etc with an unstamped envelope with various reference numbers on it. For the last couple of years my avis from the impot have been rather scrappy black and white copies - presumably a cost cutting exercise. I hope my Notaire will just sign all the bits of paper without worrying!
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Hi all those interested:  ONE of my two applications has been successful and, yes, it's dated 20 Feb so about the time when it was first sent in.

This is the one where they asked all sorts of questions where the answers were already given on the application.

I now expect the other application to be successful as well..............thought I'd just cheer up all those who are still waiting to hear!

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Congratulations, Mint.

I received a letter today telling me that my application was unsuccessful due to not having supplied the requested proof. My money has been refunded directly to my UK bank account. So that's £5k for 2 months, lost interest.

There is supposedly an investigation into my complaint which is still on-going, but no news on that, and I've lost interest (literally!) in what happens now anyway. The words "left hand" and "right hand" spring to mind. 

Also, no news on my Premium Bonds encashment.

As I said in my letter to them, I have been an investor for 60 years and I think the way they have handled this application and subsequent correspondence is really shabby. Customer service? I don't think so. 

End of story for me.

 

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Sid, I am NOT rubbing it in but Kong might like to know that I now have both bonds that I applied for.

Sorry about your experience, Sid.  OTOH, as a man of some substance, you probably don't need the interest as much as I do?[:)]

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