pensioner bonds

A question about : pensioner bonds

I can't believe how incredibly complicated they have made it to register for these bonds - multiple questions, timeouts, passwords, etc etc. Then if you try to ring their number - forget it! My sister and I have both tried, without success, and now given up. Has anyone else experienced this? It's crazy (especially when you consider these bonds are for the over 65's only!).

Best answers:

• https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=5132175
• Because I am also new at this forum I have replied to another message but I totally agree with you. I have got as far as filling in the form online but they sent me a letter with the wrong initial. They now want 2 documents certified by someone. The Post Office cannot be used but they are the cheapest. I eventually got through to the Helpline after a few days and standing over the phone redialling and replacing the receiver for a long time. Nice young man but did not know enough about the product or how things work in England. I told him the cost of certifying the documents and special post will be more than the interest but he didn't think so. I don't fit into many categories for the documents and don't know anyone who can sign for free. Don't know where to go from here.
• My wife has found applying for these bonds a nightmare.
  After finally getting through online and completing all the forms and accepting her money NS&I are now demanding she produces two types of legally certified proof of identity. This means I have to drive her to the nearest town (16 miles away) and pay a solicitor as our local GPs do not provide the service.
  My brother, also a pensioner, has had none of this hassle. The fact that he's white and my wife is Chinese has nothing to do with it.
• Dead easy process:
  Go to NS&I website and print out application form.
  Fill in easy and very basic form.
  Send form with cheque to NS&I.
  Certificate arrives 2 weeks later.
• The website is awful. I initially went to apply online but because the site was timing out so often I decided there was no way I was going to go as far as using my debit card and risk a timeout halfway through the process. I then tried to use the telephone line and had the same experience as others i.e. told it was busy and to try later. A couple of days later I got through and it was then easy to buy the bonds. I bought the bonds on January, 16th and got a message back via email later that day confirming my conversation and giving me a reference number. On January, 27th I got another email confirming the sale and that my application had been accepted. Today, I received a letter giving me an NS&I number and temporary password. When I logged on to the site, I was able to change my password but there followed another screen with a list of 5 security questions to be completed, a login display to be selected and a login phrase to be setup followed by up to 3 telephone contact numbers to fiil in. When I filled in the telephone numbers and clicked on "next" nothing happened. I had to reload the application and start again using the new password I had created and this time I was allowed to answer the security questions and move on. I did the same for my wife's NS&I number and exactly the same thing happened i.e. the application either timed out or hung up on the security questions screen although it again worked on the second attempt with the new password created from the temporary one supplied in the letter. Basically, the application is not really fit for purpose!
• Some people do like to make things difficult..
  If you see a traffic jam ahead, divert onto the old route!
• Very simple, very easy.
  However I am registered with them as I have some Premium Bonds. I am also registered for phone and online access.
  So buying the new Bonds with my debit card was child's play. It took all of 3 minutes this morning.
• I have just had moneyfoolish's experience...
  I applied for my bonds via post with a cheque, and got the paper work three weeks later. I decided to register for online access afterwards and eventually received my NS&I number and temporary password. Creating a new password to meet their requirements took around five goes for a start. Then I was presented with the screen of five questions which I had problems choosing (being single, uninterested in sports or pets, primary school long way from any 'city' etc) but filled it in anyway. Pressed continue and it timed out. Started over again, accepted my new password OK but then got the same screen but with a different set of questions - I could not use some of the ones I had chosen the first time! Lo and behold it timed out again, at which point I give up in despair.
  What an awful website.
• The main problem was in that their list of 'special' characters rather differs from what KeePass classes as special characters - ie there is a colon but not a semi-colon, square and curly brackets but not normal brackets.... It took several iterations with KeePass generating its random passwords to get one which met the NS&I rules. All pretty pointless anyway when you only select two characters from a pitifully short 8 character password to login, what sort of security is that...
  Anyway, since I couldn't get past the 5 security question page due to server timeouts I have left it.
• thanks for explaining that you're using a software password manager which of course the NS&I system is not interested in. The KISS method works just fine
• Third time lucky, this time I used Opera instead of Palemoon and it went straight through. Yet another set of security questions to choose from, very infuriating ones. How do they expect me to know the 'City' where my grandfather was born when that was in 1873 and he died 30 years before I was born.... Anyway, all worked, not that I could do much when I actually got there apart from seeing my bond which I already know I have.
• Nowadays security of passwords is not them being cracked by someone trying to access your account online (which will indeed result in being locked out after a very few attempts). It is more that if their database gets hacked and somebody then has access to the complete list of usernames and passwords (themselves hashed hopefully) it is relatively trivial to crack 8 digit passwords offline, it just needs a fast processor and a few hours of time at his leisure. Once you have the password it is trivial for the person to log into that account.
  Databases do get hacked regardless of how secure the owners claim them to be. These days a system that only allows a maximum 8 characters is woefully insecure.