Big fan of Ernie although crap investment but a fun investment, when you win a prize, it makes your day, plus the money is easy to get back if you need it .

I’d also say I have a small amount of money in an NSI bond which was ‘automatically rolled over’ into a new bond without my permission or authorisation. This is government robbery. I have never come across any bank that didn’t just end the bond at the end of the term. I suspect HMG are acting illegally by rolling such bonds over without authority from the account holder. So of course I am being robbed to help HMG pay 12% interest to another bunch of early baby boomers that grabbed everything for themselves and then pulled up the drawbridge.

No doubt by the time I need a new hip they will no longer be available on the NHS. All the early baby boomers will have once again enjoyed a benefit which has then been cancelled and withheld from others.

You had the option to buy them too.

But the reason it should be allowed is if it is stated as such in the T&C's when people bought them.

I would not expect a government to go back on it's agreed contract. No..wait....

Personally I dislike that NS&I has been used as a political tool to give preferential terms to those fortunate enough to have money to save.

It’s near impossible to argue that it’s a good use of public funds to raise money from retail savers (and provide the expensive admin infrastructure) at a higher rate of interest than raising the same from the gilt markets. Especially since the returns offered on these products are also tax free, and also come with a valuable option (the right but not the obligation) to perpetually roll-over on maturity.

I dare say if these were tradeable instruments they would change hands for well above face value, which shows you the scale of subsidy being given. At least they did change the terms from RPI to CPI, even for those rolling over.

Personally I have £15k worth, bought many moons ago at the behest of my father in law. They are a lot like the IBM shares in The Money Game anecdote, though. So attractive one must never sell them, which in many ways makes them a rather pointless curio.

I purchased the NS&I IL notes from 2004 until they were no longer issued. I looked hard at the trade off of return versus "safety" and read the bond terms carefully. Whilst I was momentarily disappointed at the shift from RPI to CPI, I accepted that this was within the terms and kept the investments.

The roll over of maturing bonds was a part of the original contract, there is no concept of "fair" or "unfair" in this at all - it is just the terms of the contract, just as is the tax spared element. The roll over notifications are sent with more than enough notice for me to decide to roll or not.

They are "bedrock" elements of the family balance sheet and as such would not be the first assets to be used to fund care/hips/eyes/grandchild etc. They are about 17% of the overall book.

I accepted low returns relative to equities for quite a long time, because I wanted a) Tax efficient savings, b) inflation shielding and c) highest level capital security. They have done their job so far and whilst the return is not at all stellar, it suits my personal views of risk/return.