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What happens at maturity?

We’ll write to you about ten days before your Savings Certificate reaches the end of its term. With your letter we’ll include:

You can then choose to:

If you don’t manage to reply to us by the end of the term, don’t worry – you will carry on earning index-linking and extra interest at the rate on offer at the time.

Frequently asked questions about maturing Savings Certificates

My Savings Certificates are about to mature what happens now?

When your Certificate reaches the end of its term, you have three choices:

1. Keep it invested: if you want to keep your Savings Certificate for another term of the same length, you don’t need to do anything, we'll arrange it for you. Your Certificate will automatically start earning the new guaranteed rates of interest quoted in your letter. If you’re happy to leave your investment for a further term, just keep the letter with your Certificate as a record of the new annual rates. Your current Certificate remains valid, so we won’t send you a new one – we’ll just update our records.

2. Reinvest in a new Certificate: you can reinvest all or part of your money into a new Savings Certificate, for example into a different term (eg from a 5-year into a 3-year) or into a different type of Certificate (eg from a Fixed Interest into an Index-linked). If you reinvest you are buying a new Certificate, so we will invest your money in the Issue that is on sale at the time. You can reinvest by phone shortly before or on your maturity date. Or you can reinvest by completing the form in your pack and returning it to us with your Certificate(s).

• Check the interest rates of the Issues currently on sale

3. Cash it in: you will receive the amount shown on your letter. Just complete the form in your pack and return it to us with your Certificate(s).

Why is the value of my Certificate not shown in my letter?

If you have an inflation-beating Index-linked Savings Certificate, the value may not always be shown in your letter. This is because the Retail Prices Index for the relevant month may not have been published by the time we sent your letter. If this is the case, just call us on or after your Certificate’s maturity date and we will give you an up-to-date valuation. And don’t worry, you can still decide to cash in or reinvest any time after the anniversary date.

What are the benefits of keeping a Certificate invested for a further term of the same length?

Firstly, it’s easy – you don’t need to do anything. At the end of the term we’ll make sure your Certificate starts to earn the new guaranteed rates of interest shown in your letter – even if the interest rates on offer for Savings Certificates fall in the meantime. However, if the rates on offer go up between the date of your letter and the end of your Certificate’s term, we promise to pay you the higher rates.

And secondly, we will treat your continued investment as “matured funds”. This means that you can reinvest the full value into a different term or type of Certificate at any time, even if this exceeds the usual £15,000 limit. And it won’t count towards the limit for any new money you might want to invest in the same Issue.

Please note that you can only do this once for each matured Certificate – the usual holding limits will apply for any further reinvestments.

Can I keep just part of a Certificate invested?

Yes. If you keep part invested, you can then cash in the other part or reinvest it into a different term or type of Certificate. We’ll send you a replacement Certificate showing the original date of purchase and the amount of capital still invested. The remaining capital, together with the interest/index-linking it has earned to date, will be earning the new guaranteed rates shown in your letter.

The amount cashed in or reinvested will be made up of capital plus the interest/index-linking it has earned, so we may not be able to split it in exactly the amounts you asked for. Also, because of “roundings” in the calculations, the amounts when added up may differ by a few pence from the anniversary value quoted in your letter.

Can I reinvest in both Inflation-Beating Savings and Fixed Interest?

Yes, you can reinvest all or part of your mature Certificate into either term or either type of Certificate, or all of them if you prefer. There is no limit to the amount you can reinvest from your mature Certificates. And each time a new Issue is released – usually when the rates on offer change – you can invest up to £15,000 of new money in that Issue as well.

What if I need to get hold of my money later?

You can cash in all or part of your Certificate at any time, but you’ll earn a lower rate of interest than if you kept it for the full term. Index-linked Savings Certificates earn index-linking and interest for each complete month they are held. Fixed Interest Savings Certificates earn interest for each complete period of three months.

If I decide to cash in, when can I expect to receive my money?

We’ll aim to process your payment within two working days of receiving your instruction (at busy times this may take a little longer), or by the end of your Certificate’s term if this is later. Please also remember to allow time for your bank or building society to clear the payment to your account.

I have some older Certificates which reached the end of their term a few years ago. What rate are they earning now?

On 8 October 2001 we introduced what we call “automatic rollover”, which means that all Certificates reaching the end of their term on or after that date automatically earn new guaranteed rates of interest for a further term of the same length, unless you tell us otherwise. If you have any Certificates that reached the end of their term before that date, and you have not cashed them in or reinvested them, they will be earning lower rates of return:

In both cases you’ll earn a better return by reinvesting into one of the current Issues – just contact us if you’d like to do this, quoting your Certificate number(s).