NS&I to refund £1m over interest miscalculation

by Gill Montia

Story link: NS&I to refund £1m over interest miscalculation

A Daily Telegraph campaign has been successful in securing refunds for around 15,000 holders of index-linked savings certificates with National Savings & Investments (NS&I).

According to the newspaper, some investors who redeemed their certificates earlier this year, between anniversaries, are to receive over £1 million in total, or an average of £68 each.

The Government-backed savings provider miscalculated interest, with its customers eventually picking up mistakes in the way their returns were totted up.

Inquiries revealed that NS&I had offset the fall in the Retail Price Index, which is used to measure inflation / deflation, against the rate of interest offered with the certificates.

The error was first spotted by a retired business adviser with 44 years’ experience in the banking sector, who told the Telegraph he was “very conscious of the small print in savings material”.

NS&I has excused itself by saying this is the first time that a continuous period of decreasing inflation has been experienced since its index-linked savings certificates were launched in 1975.