Berkshire woman faces six-year wait for £2,000 Premium Bonds payout after father’s death
A woman from Berkshire has told how it took nearly six years to receive £2,000 in Premium Bonds from National Savings and Investments (NS&I) following her father’s death.
Last updated 27th Mar 2026
Tracy McGuire-Brown, 61, from Newbury, described a “very long and drawn-out” battle to access the money she was entitled to, finally receiving the funds last month.
Her father died in 2020 and, amid the emotional strain of dealing with his affairs, the family knew he had Premium Bonds. But when they contacted NS&I, Tracy said they repeatedly hit a brick wall.
“NS&I was contacted several times but initially said there was no such account, even though we gave all the details and more and explained the situation,” she said.
It was not until 2024 that Tracy began to see any progress.
“Finally in 2024, we started to get some movement that there was an account and eventually they said yes there was and then it started.”
Weeks of waiting and repeated explanations
Tracy said she sent numerous documents by post, with long periods of silence in between.
“There would be weeks in between, and still it went on.”
She also highlighted what she saw as poor continuity of service when speaking to NS&I staff.
“If you did get to speak to someone you had to explain everything again and again and again, just really bad.”
The former care home manager said that, after years of back-and-forth, she eventually received a letter suggesting that, before using the money, she should pay off any debts or funeral expenses.
“My father had been dead five years by then, I just found that was the final insult.”
‘Horrible time’ leaves her vowing not to invest again
After lodging a complaint, Tracy received £150 in compensation for the trouble she had been put through. But she said this did not reflect the stress involved.
“It was £2,000, we weren’t talking hundreds of thousands… it was just ridiculous, it was a horrible time.
“Really, should it be that difficult, that awful and that much of a trial?
“It’s just frightening, really. To make it so difficult and so insensitive is just appalling, I think.”
She said the experience has put her off Premium Bonds altogether.
“Even when you have got all the information and you give them all the information, my experience was appalling… to the extent that I definitely would not invest in Premium Bonds now.
“And that’s a shame… when you are dealing with the bereavement of a close relative, to have this just keep going on, it just rakes stuff up as well, you just want to sort it, that’s all.”
NS&I failures could affect tens of thousands of customers
Tracy’s experience comes as NS&I, which is backed by the Treasury, prepares to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds after failures meant bereaved families were missing out on savings pots.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell said NS&I has reviewed more than 34 million customer records.
He said the work so far points to a maximum of around 37,500 customers with up to £476 million in deposits potentially affected.
“Three-quarters of cases relate to the period between 2008 and 2025,” he said, adding that the number of affected customers is likely to fall as the review continues.
While this represents less than 0.2% of NS&I’s customers, Mr Bell said it is “still far too many”.
NS&I has said that families, beneficiaries and deceased customers’ estates do not need to take immediate action. It has pledged to contact affected estates directly and publish further information for beneficiaries in due course.