65+ Bonds

I decided against these because they are not part of the R85 scheme so do not pay gross interest.

R85 scheme?

If you do not pay income tax you sign a form so that you get gross interest. With these bonds you would have to claim the tax paid on interest back from the Inland Revenue.

I have not tried yet. It seemed a good idea to let the rush die down.

I've tried. Website unavailable, phoneline continually engaged. And all for what I ask myself. A few hundred pounds extra interest.

Agree lack of R85 scheme irritating.

I have a rule that I abide by - no queueing/panic buying for anything.
given the limited funds for these and the number of well-heeled (i.e. wealthy) over 65s who will rush to put £10K away which they do not need for day to day living I may well avoid them altogether.
I think they should have been for £1K max and pay a better rate of income for a 1 year - they are not tax free anyway.
what should happen is a better rate of interest for savings that everyone (regardless of age) to encourage savings

Thanks for explaining that Liz.

We have tried by phone and get the message, "to do ring back, press 5 ". Having pressed five "ring back is not available on this number"! Website is hopeless. A spokesman for nS&I said there's no rush, they'll be on sale for months, not weeks", but the money experts are predicting they'll be sold within a couple of days at most.

We tried - the site has crashed. We will go on at a later date.

Predictable shambles. At first only got an on-line invitation to register; did so, on the grounds that it might save time later, and found the process has to be completed by post. Finally got to the Apply stage: informed registration would be automatic. Apply stage crashed. If I eventually succeed in applying (not at all sure I'll bother) will I then be registered twice?

Given up on telephone as well. Philosophically, I am now telling myself that there are other Over 65s with needs greater than mine, so I am committing an act of charity by not taking up some of the allocation.

[In the words of Touchstone, such a one is a 'natural' philosopher!]

I filled in the form on line and then the whole thing crashed. I then phoned, got straight through, did the business and all done and dusted in less than 8 minutes. Must have been my lucky day

Anyone else hear that awful money person on the Today Programme suggest that this is "yet another" way for the young to be supporting well-off pensioners?!

Just done mine by phone. Just had a cup of tea and kept redialling. I thought people would go for lunch and give me a space. Considering I seem to do nothing but support the young of two generations I am glad I didn't hear that programme. I hope you registered your disapproval JBF.

I agree about the online shambles. Snail mail and land line rule. DH tried on the web site but it just kept timing out.

When I last checked I did not have a spare £10,000 lying around, so the young need not worry - at the moment!

I decided to go with postal application so have posted that off today - with my luck will probably find they have sold the whole allocation before my application reaches them!! rosequartz you didn't have to invest the full £10,000 that was the most you could invest.

I worked out that if I take out the 3 year bond (not for £10,000!!) and then had to redeem it after a year, even allowing for the 90 days lost interest it would still be more than any savings accounts are paying.

I have not tried this as there seems to be so much demand and I cannot make it happen instantly as the money would have to be transferred from a BS and by the time it was cleared by my bank account I guess all the bonds would be allocated.

Thank goodness I'm too young!

I was in hospital when this was televised so I missed yesterday totally and I will give it a miss. Like Mishap I do not have funds (of any amount) to hand and all will be sold by the time I get my act together.

I know I will be winning the 1 million £ premium bond prize next month so I do not have to worry about interest rates.

I think the long term bonds are a bit of a swizz. Interest is rolled up and only paid at the end of the 4 years, no annual interest payment, but I understand that you will nevertheless by taxed on the interest year by year as it accrues.

We had thought of putting some money into the long term bonds but have now decided not to. Our money will be put in an ISA where income is all tax free.

If no tax was payable until maturity after year 3 and the pensioner's tax position had changed from basic to higher rate in the third year, he/she would paying the higher rate on all three years' interest, a bonus for the Treasury, and vice versa if the tax position went the other way, from higher to lower. There is a sort of logic to it.

I am also amazed at the 'pundits' (definition from wikipedia : 'a pundit is a person who offers to mass media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences, technology or sport) on which they are knowledgeable (or can at least appear to be knowledgeable), or considered a scholar in said area ') who get the facts so wrong
last night on the BBC business news one of the above 'talking heads' stated unless my old ears deceive me, that they were 'tax-free' (which may be true if one does not exceed one's personal tax allowance) but is extremely misleading.
I also fail to see how the young are supporting well off pensioners through this - everybody pays tax, the differential in interest between this bond and ISAs is not that great - but I do see that it is well off pensioners who will invest to the max

DT today said most applications were for almost maximum amount allowed so that it will soon be closed.I just can't be bothered with the hassle(?) too many other things going on in my life that I don't need one more.

Has anybody put a bit in both bonds?

I've done one, so I'm in the process of being registered but it takes a while to go through. Now I want to do the other one but wonder if I have to do it as though I'm still not registered.

If that makes sense.