New payment method for NS&I’s online customers

• ‘Pay by bank account’ introduced for NS&I’s online customers
• New secure way to add funds to Premium Bonds and easy-access savings accounts
• Gradual roll out for online customers

NS&I’s online customers wishing to top up their Premium Bonds and other easy-access savings accounts will shortly start noticing a new payment method, Pay by bank account, appearing in their payment options.

Pay by bank account is a quick, easy and secure way for customers to top-up their savings with NS&I online. It will be gradually rolled out to customers with easy-access variable rate accounts – Premium Bonds, Direct Saver, Direct ISA, Income Bonds and Junior ISA.

Dax Harkins, NS&I Chief Executive, said: “I am pleased that NS&I is able to offer our customers the benefits of the latest banking technology to top up their easy-access savings accounts. Customers with most UK major banks and building societies will soon find that they can smoothly make transfers into their NS&I variable savings accounts as we start to roll out Pay by bank account over the coming weeks.”

Customers may already be familiar with the Pay by bank account technology, for example when making a self-assessment payment with HMRC, paying a credit card bill or making an online charity donation. Pay by bank account enables customers, who use online banking or a banking app, to easily and simply transfer funds by connecting directly to their bank - beginning and ending within NS&I’s secure website. The great advantage is the system automatically fills in the customer’s NS&I account details to ensure their money reaches their account seamlessly.

Customers will soon start seeing Pay by bank account as a new option for making additional deposits when they log into their online account. Customers will be securely transferred to Ecospend, where they select the bank they wish to make their payment from, before being securely transferred to their chosen bank to approve the payment.

Online customers will still be able to continue to make payments via bank transfer and debit card. Customers who are unable to transact online can continue to call our customer service teams to add funds to their savings accounts using a debit card as usual.

Customers do not need to do anything to their account as the new Pay by bank account feature will automatically appear as an option as it rolls out in the coming weeks.

Notes to Editors

1. NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to 25 million customers. All products offer 100% capital security as NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
2. Banks have different limits on how much money can be sent via Pay by bank account. Limits are typically between £10,000 and £50,000.
3. Ecospend, part of Trustly, is NS&I’s trusted provider of the Pay by bank account service. It has also been used by HMRC since March 2021. As part of the process, customers will briefly be automatically directed to Ecospend to select their bank account before being connected to their bank account to authorise the transaction, and then returning back to nsandi.com.
4. NS&I’s own data shows that customers have been changing their preferred ways of topping up their savings. Customers topping up their savings using bank transfer rose to 44% from 20% between April 2021 and March 2023. Payment by cheque is now 1% of transactions as at March 2023.
5. Further information on NS&I, including press releases and product information, is available on the website at nsandi.com. Follow us on Twitter: @nsandi or join the conversation on Facebook: NS&I.

Examples of screen imagery are available.