The Times - UK (2020-08-01)

the times | Saturday August 1 2020 1GM 59

Money

S

avers are racing to open

accounts with National Savings

& Investments because it has

the most lucrative rates on the

market, overwhelming phone

lines and leaving people’s money in

limbo.

The government-backed NS&I has

offered Premium Bonds since the 1950s

alongside a range of easy-access and

fixed-term savings accounts, but rarely

tops the best-buy tables.

Three of the top easy-access savings

accounts are now from NS&I, with the

top paying 1.16 per cent. The next best

rate is from Yorkshire Building Society,

at 0.8 per cent, but it requires a mini-

mum deposit of £10,000, or £50,000 to

qualify for a rate of 0.9 per cent.

NS&I is asking people to avoid call-

ing because of waiting times of up to

ten minutes, although some customers

have been on hold for 40 minutes.

Savers are blocked from applying for

Premium Bonds by post. The link to the

postal application form on NS&I’s site

£45,000 of Premium Bonds for her

mother, Sandie, who lives in a nursing

home in Salisbury. Savers were dealt a

double blow that month when the Bank

of England cut the base rate from

0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent, then to an

unprecedented low of 0.1 per cent.

“Interest rates were so low, and we

decided to buy our mother some

bonds,” said Julie, who shares power of

attorney for her mother with her two

sisters. “I feel that NS&I were running

rings around me, with endless letters,

phone calls, and emails. The stress

became ridiculous.”

A problem arose when a copy of

Julie’s power of attorney certificate was

rejected by NS&I in March, so she sent

a copy from her sister. In May Julie had

A

n Easyjet

customer was

told that his

future bookings with

the airline were “at

risk” because he used

chargeback to get a

refund for a cancelled

flight (David Byers

writes).

Stuart Wilde, 69, from

Bath in Somerset, and

his wife, Janet, applied

to get the money back

through M&S Bank, his

credit card provider,

after giving up hope of

a refund from Easyjet.

They had been due to

fly from Gatwick to

Bari in Italy on April 18,

returning from Rome on

May 2, and applied for

a refund of their £306

flights in late April, but

heard nothing.

Chargeback allows

you to claim money

back from a credit or

debit card company for

items that are faulty or

fail to arrive. It it is up

to companies if they

offer this, and they don’t

have to by law. Stuart

successfully used it on

July 8.

On July 10 he

received an email from

the airline’s executive

support department

saying: “As you raised a

chargeback we will not

be able to proceed with

the refunds. As such,

your future flights with

Easyjet are also at risk

because of chargeback

being raised.”

Stuart, a retired

project manager for

Siemens, was puzzled by

the email. “I found it

rather sinister, and I

wondered if I had been

banned from flying

with Easyjet because I

used these means to get

my money back after

60 days, despite the

fact that Easyjet

should have refunded

me within seven

days,” he said.

Easyjet said: “It

appears that part

of the email sent

to Mr Wilde was

a manual error

as this is related

to fraudulent

bookings,

which this is

not, and so

our customer

support team

are following

this up to

ensure this

mistake is not

repeated. Our

team are

contacting Mr Wilde

to apologise and

reassure him that

there are no concerns

for his future

bookings.”

In May customers of

Ryanair were emailed to

say that chargebacks

they had made were “a

fraudulent activity” that

could lead to them being

blacklisted. It then

backtracked and said

the emails were sent by

its customer service

agents in error.

Airlines and travel

companies have been

criticised during the

pandemic for failing to

issue refunds when trips

were cancelled, offering

credit notes instead, or

for being impossible to

contact by phone. The

industry is suffering

a severe financial crisis

after planes were

grounded for nearly

three months.

A Civil Aviation

Authority report named

airlines that performed

poorly in the pandemic

on Thursday. Easyjet

was criticised for taking

up to 90 days to process

refunds but the authority

said it had got this down

to 30 days after adding

staff and extending call

centre hours.

Easyjet’s flight

threat after I got

my money back

SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

Janet and Stuart Wilde

had waited months for

an Easyjet refund before

they tried chargeback

318

planes in Easyjet’s

fleet. They were all

grounded at the

height of lockdown

NS&I bombarded as savers

race for last of the top rates

now redirects customers to a message

about coronavirus.

Savers say that money has left their

bank account without showing up in

their NS&I accounts or transactions

pending for several weeks.

“Half of Britain’s savers are now try-

ing to open an account with NS&I, and

the fact it is busy is something we do

have to understand,” said Anna Bowes,

the co-founder of the advice website

Savings Champion. “While there’s no

excuse for things going badly wrong,

the alternative is NS&I cutting rates or

pulling these products, which would hit

savers in the pocket.”

Banks and building societies have

pulled more than 300 savings deals

since January and the average easy-

access rate has fallen to 0.3 per cent,

from 0.59 per cent at the beginning of

the year, according to Moneyfacts, a

financial data company. Banks includ-

ing Lloyds, Barclays and TSB all said

they expected profits to fall due to an

increase in mortgage and loan defaults

caused by coronavirus.

NS&I accepted £19.9 billion of depos-

its between April and July, more than

double the same time last year. The

Treasury has lifted restrictions on the

amount of public cash NS&I can take

on this financial year, from £6 billion to

a record £35 billion.

Julie Downes, 67, from north

London, decided in March to buy

a letter from NS&I saying that it could

not accept this power of attorney either,

because it was not certified on each

page. Julie insists that it was.

Sandie, who has dementia, was then

sent a letter asking her to confirm her

address and identity.

All this time, the £45,000 was pend-

ing at NS&I, so Julie wrote to the com-

pany’s chief executive, Ian Ackerley. In

June NS&I confirmed that the bonds

were bought in Sandie’s name and had

been entered into the monthly prize

draws for March, April and May.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else who has

power of attorney for a loved one to go

through what I did,” Julie said.

Peter and Sheila Davis, both 75, from

Stelling Mennis, Kent, also ran into

problems when buying Premium

Bonds for their granddaughter Emilia

as a birthday present. In March they

bought £500 in bonds ready for the

prize draw in May, when Emilia turned

13. But when Emilia’s parents asked for
    details of her holdings, the £500 didn’t
    show up. After being contacted by The
    Sunday Times, it transpired that NS&I
    needed proof of identity for Emilia,
    which has now been submitted, and
    that the bonds had been entered into
    the May prize draw. NS&I sent the
    couple £100 in compensation.
    NS&I said: “We are sorry some cus-
    tomers are experiencing difficulties.”
    Try a regular saver, page 61

Taxman gets

less of your

inheritance

I

nheritance tax bills have fallen for

the first time in a decade, largely

thanks to a relief that benefits mar-

ried couples and civil partners.

Families paid £5.16 billion in inherit-

ance tax (IHT) in the year to April 2020,

down from £5.38 billion the year before

and less than in 2017-18, according to

HM Revenue & Customs. This ends the

decade-long trend of annual increases

to the amount paid in IHTs that goes

back to 2010 when receipts were

£2.72 billion.

The tax take fell largely because of a

new perk introduced in 2017 that allows

people to pass on a family home worth

up to £425,000 to their children or

grandchildren tax-free. Previously only

£325,000 of an estate could be passed

on before the 40 per cent inheritance

tax charge kicked in.

The new allowance has been in-

creased to £175,000 giving a total of

£500,000, as long as your main home is

passed on to a direct descendant. Any

assets above this will be subject to

40 per cent tax, or 36 per cent if you give

at least 10 per cent to charity. A childless

person who is single would still only be

able to pass on £325,000 tax-free.

Mike Hodges, a partner at the ac-

countancy firm Saffery Champness,

said: “Inheritance tax has been steadily

climbing, buoyed by rising house prices,

particularly in the South East. How-

ever, the proportion of estates paying it

is likely to dwindle this financial year as

the residence relief increases.”

Kate Palmer

Unprecedented

demand is clogging up

phone lines and

delaying transfers,

writes Kate Palmer

Julie Downes, centre, with her

daughter, Clare, and mother, Sandie