State savings buying - How to people pay for 50k worth

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elcato

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Sorry if this is a stupid question but looking at the form you get the option of cash, debit card or cheque when applying first time out. How do people buy 50k worth first time around ? Do they just transfer all into one account and give that account ? Can you add a few tranches together over a few days at the start rather than getting a cert each time you buy ? Is there an easier obvious way of doing it online from a few accounts ?
 
Wouldn't you need to have the necessary funds in your current account in any event to draw a cheque or buy a bank draft?
 
UB would not issue a draft payable to State Savings or An Post or anything like that in case 'you lose it outside the door' as they say anyone could then lodge it. I failed miserably trying to buy a large amount of prize bonds for this reason, don't have a debit card or cheque book. Eventually bought then with a maturing state savings product!
 
I generally got a draft made out to myself and then signed the back of it and went to the post office with it. It was always accepted. Perhaps policy has changed now, I would ask in the post office beforehand.

My current account is with Ulster Bank and they have always refused to make out a draft payable to another financial institution or to State Savings. In general this is an awkward bank to deal with and I assumed that this was another example of this.

As for the question in the first post, not sure I understand the few accounts part? I presume you are talking about fixed term State Savings products such as certs. Each transaction is a one off and you get a cert for each. If you want to buy 10 tranches, you'll need 10 separate payments and possibly 10 forms. However once you are deemed to be an existing customer it may be a lot easier - for buying 4 and 10 year bonds they used to give out a card with a barcode on it which was scanned at the counter and no form was needed. I'm not sure if they issue these cards anymore or if there is another method to make life easier for existing customers.
 
Try reclaiming them when you've changed address!

They make it difficult to purchase, but difficult to draw down as well.
 
Elcato,
To answer the question you asked.
There's a limit on your debit card (both per transaction and per day) so it's not suitable for transferring 50k - you can't do it online (unless you want 10+ separate certs). There's no method for you to initiate a funds transfer to them.
Personally I transferred all the funds to a single current account, and wrote a cheque from there. As above bank draft should work if your bank will issue one. My wife can't remember why we couldn't get one.
 
Hmmm. So it would appear that you would need to move the appropriate funds to a current account over a good few days due to online limits and then write a cheque if you have such a luxury OR buy them in batches of say 5k and have 10 certs. I suppose the latter could be handy for taking them out in small batches as well.
 
I have always used a cheque drawn on my Ulster bank. Oftentimes for amounts above €50k. I think you can get a cheque/draft in the EBS payable to another Financial Institution.
 
I used a 50K cheque a few years back for State Savings. Ulster Bank. Tried using debit card previously but way over the limits allowed.
 
I’ve purchased 50k worth of Prize Bonds and National Solidarity Bonds online on a number of occasions (as an existing state savings customer) using an Ulster Bank’s Visa Debit Card with no issues. My current account was in funds at the time of the transaction. One suggestion for first time purchase would be to go to a Post Office with €100 and bringing all the AML documents with you and buy Prize Bonds to that value. That will get you an SSCN and should allow you carry out whatever future State Savings transactions you wanted without having to mess around with Drafts, Cheques and all that 20th century stuff. So far as I know the only thing you can’t do online is to invest in the Installment Savings product (That’s a whole other shambolic ball of wax apparently because An Post appear to be unable to originate Direct Debits other than using a paper based process)
 
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