According to MoneySavingExpert.com the problems have been happening all week.

Account holders have taken to Twitter to try and find out what’s going on.

One user Tweeted: “Just wondered if you were aware of the chaos at NS&I? No one can get money from income bonds – error message keeps repeating. Been trying since 1am.Tried phoning their free number a few times too but 40 minutes wait at the last try then it cut off.”

Several users report getting the error message “Error when calling the routine” when trying to withdraw their money.

In reply to one Tweet @ NS&IHelp replied: “Some customers have been unable to withdraw online due to this technical error which we’re investigating. We’ll aim to fix this as soon as possible; if the withdrawal is urgent, please call us on 08085 007 007. Please accept our apologies for this.”

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But customers are also complaining that when they try and contact NS&I by phone they are placed in a lengthy queue or can’t get through.

NS&I recently announced a raft of rate cuts across its range of savings products with the rate on the Direct Saver, a previous best buy, reduced from 1% AER to 0.15% AER. The interest rate on Income Bonds was slashed from 1.16% AER to 0.01% AER.

It’s also reducing the Premium Bond prize rate from December.

The rate cuts will have inevitably led to more customers wanting to withdraw their money.

An NS&I spokesperson said: “We are aware that some NS&I customers using our online service are currently having difficulty when trying to withdraw money from their accounts. This is due to a technical issue which we are working to resolve as quickly as we can and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.  We are currently seeing very high call levels to our customer service team and customers will experience a longer wait than usual to get through.  However, customers can withdraw money from their NS&I accounts by phoning 08085 007 007.”