To ask if you have the full holding in premium bonds, have you ever won anything big?

[Reewu]

That’s it really… not sure whether to pay into premium bonds or pay off mortgage!

YABU to base financial decisions on a snapshot of experiences on this thread.

If your mortgage rate is below about 3 or 4% you can probably get more interest or PB payout by saving the money instead. Look at the full statistical analysis on MSE to determine the odds of beating your mortgage rate with PBs.

When we had a mortgage, the rate was under 1% for years, so we just offset it with money in savings, PBs, even current accounts that paid interest - the payout was much higher than the mortgage rate.

My best PB prize was £1k on a holding of around £20k, so that prize alone paid about 2 years' worth of mortgage interest.

Plus what you have to balance PBs against is guaranteed interest in a savings account - eg if you have £50k in a savings account earning 5%, you'll earn over £200 pm in interest. But some of it will be taxable if not in a cash ISA, so that's another consideration

In PBs you might get around £150-200 pm in prizes, but it could be more, or less. You're basically gambling guaranteed interest for a small chance of a big prize.

I won £5000 once when my holding was around £30k. Now DH and I have around £40k each in our accounts and whilst we win most months it's generally in the region of £50-£150 each.

I won £1,000 the second month I was in the draw but I use mine as a saving account and withdraw into ISA / bonds etc then build up again

Iirc it was a £100 investment made in march (or may) 2023 and won £100k.
Assuming that was a birth gift for a baby, some 1yr old kid just got set up for life pretty much.

Most months I win anything from £25 to £250 and maybe two or three months in the year win nothing. Considering it's instant access, I quite like owning premium bonds. I'd recommend them to anyone with spare money laying around. Always pay your debts first though.

We both have FH and over the past couple of years we seem to have been beating the average.👍
That said, this month for the first time in a couple of years I had zero☹️while my OH won £350😆.

TBH if it was a choice of mortgage or PB's, it would be mortgage.

No, but we regularly get £100/£50. We win some pretty much every month.

DH and I had max holding for a year or two as did DS2 and we pooledwinnings. None of us won more than peanuts. It's all been moved now.

Have full holdings, won £1600 a few months ago, but that's the most at one time. Generally get approx £100 every month or two.

I put £1150 into mine in November and won £100 this month! I like a risk so just going to keep putting in the odd £50-100 every month and keep any winnings in bonds.

Had £30k moved it to savings account after using some for renovations most I got was £350 in a month some nothing. DH had same amount in an interest account and I only beat him by £100. Now moved to savings account as better return 5.5% all in my name as I am not a high tax payer. Going to put against mortgage later this year just before interest rate goes up. Loads of people got full amount and getting less than normal savings account.

DH and I have the full allowance each. The highest payout we’ve had is £10k, a few years back. Generally seem to get a win each month.
A friend has also got the full allowance and won £50k a couple of months back. So it can happen.