State Savings Customer Service.

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WaterWater

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I had a State Savings Certificate maturing on the 31st October. I normally get a notification and a form for encashment about a month before the Bond/Certificate is due in the post.
I received nothing in the post so I gave them a call. I was told that they were very busy because the interest rates had gone up on October the 1st and they would send one out as soon as possible. I received the form around the 20th October and returned it immediately.

Has the system changed? Am I supposed to download a form now and have they stopped sending out the reminders and encashment forms? Am I supposed to do it online?

Would the letter that I get notifying me of a maturing bond not be sent out automatically? Why would the increase in interest rates effect the automatic issuing of the notice of maturing letter? Would this not be a post room job?

Anyhow, still no payment received by November 6th.

They are incredibly slow to do anything.
 
Same thing happened with us but we have received our money recently.

I rang them when we did not receive the documentation and was told the same as you that they were very busy because of the change in rates. This was most unusual for them as we have always received the papers well in advance. They generated the paperwork and sent it out the next day. We subsequently received a second set which was presumably the standard renewal.

I do think when things quieten down that they will return to normal and issue the documents in advance. Their phone lines are also very busy.
 
Because of the recent increase in interest rates it is beneficial for large numbers of people in the previous issue to cash in and reinvest into the new issue. They are probably processing thousands of cash in requests.
 
S class said:
Because of the recent increase in interest rates it is beneficial for large numbers of people in the previous issue to cash in and reinvest into the new issue. They are probably processing thousands of cash in requests.
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I would have thought that the letters about a maturing Certificate would be generated by their system automatically and posted out automatically.

It seems that they are prioritising new business and rollovers before those that want them encashed.
 
I was due a certificate repayment on the 1st November. Today I got a letter from them saying that there is no date on the bank statement head that I sent in with my encashment form to confirm my IBAN details. Why I am getting this letter today when I sent in the encashment form in mid October. If I made an error it should have been picked up much earlier. (incidentally, I actually cut the head off my bank statement and sent it in to them).

I have been cashing in Prize Bonds over the past year so the NTMA already has my bank details on file. But the NTMA department that deals with Prize Bonds has no link with the NTMA department that deals with Saving Certs/Bonds.

When I rang them I said that I wasn't happy with the letter that I got and the staff member said to me "are you ringing up to have a rant or do you want me to help you".

So saying you are not happy seems to equal "rant".
 
Anytime they call me for ID they always preface their conversation with a statement that the call is being recorded*. If they referred to a customer's legitimate concern as a 'rant' then you would have grounds for a complaint.

*They never give me a chance to explain that I'm recording the call too );.
 
They are slow alright, with paper, so i moved totally online last year, and have both: bought new products, and encashed matured products straight to my bank account, a few times, and its all been relatively quick, once, you have completed the online account form and are setup.

The one limitation to buying online, however, is most debit cards have a sub 10k daily limit, some banks are as low as 3k daily limit, but the basic N26 debit card, has a 20k monthly/daily limit, which i have used to purchase new products, without any issues.
 
fayf said:
so i moved totally online last year, and have both: bought new products, and encashed matured products straight to my bank account, a few times, and its all been relatively quick, once, you have completed the online account form and are setup.
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I have set up online also.

I my case the online withdrawals were suspended until they phoned me to verify data.

In my wife's case they suspended her withdrawals until she supplied them with a copy of her passport.
 
I just wanted to share my experience of trying to withdraw funds from a matured savings certificate in State Savings which are in my sole name.

I am fully set up on the online platform and my bank account details are provided.

5th Oct – I requested online for my funds to be part reinvested in a 3yr savings bond and the rest sent back to my bank account. This is one of the standard options on the online form – it’s not an unusual request. According to the FAQ for Repayments and Reinvestments / When will my funds arrive in my bank account? I was expecting this to take 3-5 working days.

19th October: I received an automated email which was jumbled and poorly written. The first paragraph asked for a photo of my passport or driving licence. The 2nd paragraph asked for the same thing again. The third paragraph said that the document received was unacceptable (even though I had not sent anything at this point). The 4th paragraph said thanks for providing your proof of ID and please contact them to verify my repayment.

This email had all the hallmarks of a phishing email so went to the State Savings website and using the email address there, I emailed them on 20th Oct to check if the email I had received was legit.

On 25th Oct, the responded saying the email was legit. On the same day I replied to ask if there was any other more secure way rather than sending an unencrypted photo of my ID by email - such as a secure file transfer facility.

27th Oct they responded to say that I could send a photocopy by post. To be honest, I did not think this was any better, so I gave in and sent the photo by email on 31st Oct.

I got an email on 3rd Nov asking me to call them to verify my payment. I tried to call them but could not get through, so I left my number for a call back. I got a call back later that day but the guy I spoke to could not handle my query as it had to be the repayments section that rang me. So the repayments section rang me on 6th November. They asked me my DOB and address and said thanks. Today 7th Nov I got an email saying my money is on the way and will be in my account in 5 working days.
 
S class said:
I have set up online also.

I my case the online withdrawals were suspended until they phoned me to verify data.

In my wife's case they suspended her withdrawals until she supplied them with a copy of her passport.
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They called me also, to verify a recent withdrawal, and i have zero problem with that.

I would think, they had a key, but missing security information for your wife, and now that has been provided, it should not be required going forward. Many people purchased bonds several years ago, in post offices, which may not have been compliant, so could well be a missing security /compliance piece.
 
It both cases the savings certs were purchased at the same time using the state savings website in 2020. I haven't been asked to provide photographic i.d.
The person who phoned me was apologizing for having to call me. She said that sometimes their system insists on calling the saver. There seems to be no consistency in their operation.
 
I think it is reasonable that they verify your identity. You would be more upset if they gave the money to a fraudster.
Re the consistency, maybe their systems are set up to validate a % of accounts
 
AndroidMan said:
I think it is reasonable that they verify your identity.
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Her online account was only set up a few weeks ago. All the necessary verification checks were made then. She cashed in 8 certs last week online. This week she attempted to cash in some more and then this inconsistent operation kicks in.
The online account was set up to allow easy access for cashing in. Then State Savings create obstacles to the easy access process.

As regards giving money to a fraudster. The online set up includes setting up the payment IBAN. This is the only bank account that State Savings will make payment to.
 
One of my State Savings account matured on the 31st. October. I asked for the funds to be credited to my current account. They would not accept the original bank statement header that I sent them back in early October as it was not dated. They waited until the 1st November to tell me this.
I phoned them and to expedite matters it was suggested that I opt for a cheque payment to be sent to me.....as it could be done immediately rather than having to send in another dated bank statement header.
I chose the cheque. It is now the 9th of November and still no cheque.
 
I recently requested a withdrawal online and got an email confirmation of the request. Several days later I got a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be from state savings asking me to confirm that it was me requesting the withdrawal and asking for my name and dob. When I asked how I could be sure this was not a scam he couldn't tell me. He said I could contact customer service and ask them to confirm that this was a legitimate call from State Savings. Surely there has to be a better process than this?
 
I recently cashed-in six bonds using my online account. All six were held in my sole name, and in the same fully up to date and verified online account (SSCN). All six had been purchased using my online account in the last couple of years. There were cashed-in in a single online session in the space of 10 mins. The first two repayments landed in my account on 14th Sept, the next two on 19th Sept and the final two on 25th Sept after I chased them a number of times. All were for similar amounts of money. All six encashments were handled separately/individually and there were numerous inconsistencies in the way they were handled, some requiring no verification, some requiring only phone verification, while others required documentary identity proof to be sent by e-mail which I flatly refused on security grounds causing the requirement to evaporate altogether. State Savings procedures appear sloppy, inconsistent, poorly thought out and implemented and their staff poorly trained. And as for the excuse that they were flat out because of the rate change, this was entirely self inflicted and could have been avoided if their online system allowed reinvestment of cashed-in products and online handling of joint investments.
 
I recently a call from State Savings when I moved money from prize bonds directly into 10-Year bonds

The guy on the end of the phone was outdoors when he phoned me. You could hear the low wind noise in the background?!
 
homeboy said:
Experienced delays, inconsistencies and clueless staff when transacting with State Savings.

Can anything be done about this? Surely there is a strong audit of State Savings? Where can we register our concerns?
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Complaints@ntma.ie

I had terrible hassle with them. I was told time and again to just make the complaint to State Savings themselves (which of course was useless being that the staff themselves were the issue). After several emails they finally gave me the above email address to register my compliant to. For the money they make off their customers, I am amazed the system they have has so many issues (at least in my opinion anyway). It took me 6 weeks to get my savings bond cashed in.
 
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