Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that investors with National Savings and Investments receive their income bonds as speedily as possible when requested.

For NS&I Income Bonds customers, funds accrue interest from the date the customer has originally made their deposit, though the transaction may not necessarily appear in a customer’s accounts until a later date

For an electronic transfer deposit received by 18:30 on a banking day will normally clear on the next banking day. Debit card and cheque deposits will clear no later than the seventh banking day after being received. However, if a customer applies to open a new Income Bonds account, or makes a subsequent deposit, by debit card between 8pm on the 20th of a month and the 5th of the following month, their updated balance will not display online until the 6th of the month. Instead, the transaction will show in ‘Pending transactions’. This is because of a period where NS&I calculate the monthly interest payments. Customers will still accrue interest from the date they originally made their deposit and NS&I will pay that accrued interest on the next available interest payment.