SALLY SORTS IT: I transferred £48,000 to NS&I but my money has vanished

On December 30 last year, I transferred £48,000 from my Revolut account to National Savings & Investments (NS&I) to buy extra Premium Bonds on top of the £2,000 worth I already held.

Revolut confirmed the money was received by NS&I on the same day.

Last month, having not had a notification of any prizes, I logged on to my account to check I hadn’t missed any.

I was shocked to discover only the original £2,000 balance was showing.

NS&I seems to have lost my money.

G. P., Chelmsford, Essex.

Missing thousands: A reader got a nasty shock when the £48,000 they transferred to National Savings & Investments to buy Premium Bonds seemingly disappeared

Sally Hamilton replies: WHEN you discovered your money was missing, you immediately phoned NS&I, which reassuringly told you it had a record of receiving the £48,000.

But then it added that it no longer had your funds.

It turned out your transfer had not been accepted, as the home address listed for your Revolut account did not match the address on your NS&I account.

You explained that your premium bond account is registered with your UK address. But you also have a home in Spain, to which the Revolut account is registered, as you use this firm for certain banking arrangements while abroad.

You were told by NS&I employees that the money had been returned automatically to Revolut but they had no reference numbers that could help you trace the money.

Worryingly, your Revolut account did not show any record of your money either. Where was it?

I contacted NS&I on your behalf, and it began the detective work to locate your savings.

It emerged a few days later that Revolut had bounced the returned payment because its security systems also did not like the mismatched addresses on your two accounts.

In this game of ping-pong with your money, the funds had ended up back at NS&I.

Since there was no reference number attached to this transfer, the money vanished into a black hole.

Even when you later managed to obtain a payment ID for the Revolut funds, this somehow got missed by NS&I when you passed it on, and no action was taken by staff, leaving you panicked your money was lost for good.

Hardly premium service from the Premium Bonds provider.

However, I am pleased to report that after a comprehensive search of its coffers, NS&I has found your £48,000. It was sitting in its ‘pending’ account.

An NS&I spokesman says: ‘We are sorry to hear that G. P. had difficulty transferring money from his Revolut account to his NS&I account.

‘We have given him a £150 goodwill payment for the inconvenience caused due to our inaction.’

Unfortunately, your saga hasn’t reached a full conclusion yet, because despite an understanding that the funds would be transferred directly to your bank account so you could quickly reapply for your Premium Bonds, NS&I sent you a cheque instead.

You fear the inevitable delays could lead to you missing another monthly Ernie draw.

Let’s hope the money is credited quickly and your Premium Bonds luck changes for the better.

Hospital can’t find my wife’s wedding ring 

My wife, who has dementia, was an inpatient at Trafford General Hospital last May.

While there, her wedding ring and hearing aid went missing. I completed a claim form, which I posted, along with two estimates. 

Since then, I have heard nothing, despite making numerous phone calls to the hospital and being passed from pillar to post.

W. H., Manchester.

Sally Hamilton replies: It is upsetting enough to have a sick loved-one in hospital, but to have her wedding ring — and her hearing aid — go astray while in the care of the NHS simply added to your distress.

Hospitals are busy and frenetic places and patients’ possessions can sadly make easy targets for determined thieves, or can just go missing in the general mayhem.

My elderly mother lost spectacles and her lower dentures during a hospital stay a few years ago, which caused great upset and inconvenience.

A set of false teeth was found in lost property but sadly it didn’t belong to her. The specs were also never discovered.

The usual advice for patients is not to take along any money or valuables when facing a hospital stay or, if this is unavoidable, to hand such items over to the safe custody of the ward (and have them signed for), if that option is available.

But few people would imagine needing to remove their wedding ring in these circumstances. And how many people can manage without their hearing aids?

You had enough to worry about without these important items vanishing while your wife was ill.

The lack of communication from the hospital following your claim added to your distress over the ten months or so since the items were lost.

We all know the NHS is under severe pressure, but it is vital that patients and families can have confidence that a hospital is looking after all their interests and not just their health.

Most trusts will have systems in place for dealing with such incidents.

The police might also need to be called in certain circumstances if theft is suspected.

As you are one of your wife’s main carers, you certainly have enough to deal with, without having to chase this claim over and over again.

You recently threatened the hospital with legal action if you didn’t hear anything about your case, but to no avail — and contacted me for help because you were at the end of your tether.

I am pleased to say that within a few days of me contacting Trafford General Hospital on your behalf, staff got in touch with you directly, and your claim was settled soon afterwards.

You and your wife received £1,200 in settlement, which you tell me you are happy with.

Operation successful.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email [email protected] — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk