New thread and I've been asked to give some basic info. Feel free to add stuff
PB have been about since 1957
Been 30yrs (April 2024) since a million was then the highest prize
nsandi-corporate.com/news-research/news/30-years-premium-bonds-ps1-million-jackpots#
Each bond is £1. You have to buy in minimum of £25 so means 25 chances to win every purchase - years ago you could buy £1 at a time.
Odds of winning £1 million on Premium Bonds at face value are 1 in 2,489,469,818 if you have £25 in PBs.
However most people have more than £25 so the odds depend on how much you do hold.
If you have £100 the odds in any given month are 1 in 49,563,028
£1,000 in PB the odds are 1 in 4,954,991
£50,000 in PB the odds are 1 in 96,839
To win anything odds are 1 in 22000
So providing you have more than £100 you have better odds than winning the lottery 😄
And obviously far better than the lottery - you don’t lose your stake !!!!!!
Bonds have to be in for a clear month before going into the draw
If you want to cash bonds in then usually takes 3 days to go into your account
Winnings can be reinvested if holdings are under £50k
This means they will go into the next months draw without losing a month
Or sent to named bank account if winnings take over FH /want winnings in bank account
More info here
www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/savings/types-of-savings/premium-bonds
The best time to buy premium bonds is on the last day of the month, as this means they are only held by NSI for one month and one day, without being entered into the prize draw.
PB to me is the fun and thrill each month of what if I win big and a millionaire - to then hoping win thousands to a day or two later being grateful if win £25😂
I have nowhere near the maximum and probably never will unless I win £50k + on pb
But only takes one £1 to win that million !!!
I love seeing the low holdings win high amounts
We've seen over the years £100 win £100k and £50 win £25k and even £1 won £10k
Maximum is £50k per person so some do have all for family- mum dad and 2 kids so £200k etx
Those on the thread are varying from few hundred /few thousand - to 20/30k to full holdings of £50k
Everyone is welcome to join in whether small or full holdings
One would expect if had full holdings of £50k to win something every month and think over the year to earn the same as if in a high interest account to win around £1925 in prizes
If have £5k average luck is £175 winnings a year
Obviously some people have better 'luck' than others and some worse - Ie full holdings and not winning anything a month or two or even longer
PB odds calculator below
moneymarvel.co.uk/calculators/premium-bonds/
Or this one is quite good as shows the interest rate of the winnings - obv anything over 4% is good as if in an account you wouid be taxed so be more like 3%)
In August 2023, NS&I hiked the prize fund to a 24-year high of 4.65 per cent from 4 per cent, a level not seen since 1999 🙀🙀🙀🙀
But it has been steadily falling since, and of January 2025, the prize fund rate - the amount of the total fund paid out in prizes - is 4 per cent (www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-14127405/Premium-Bonds-prize-fund-rate-cut-NS-deals-blow-savers.html)
www.candidmoney.com/calculators/national-savings-premium-bond-calculator
From google (august 2023) - The consistent winners are the 1.16 million people who have the maximum £50,000.
They hold almost half of all premium bonds and, at current odds of 1/22000 can expect a monthly stream of tax-free prizes: two a month and three almost every other month, 28 or 29 a year totaling £1,925
From google (Jan 2024) Tho equally With Premium Bonds, for every person who wins £1 million, a lot of people have to win nothing. So the median average will always be lower than the mean average.
This means that, with average luck, most people will win less than the prize rate each year, regardless of how many bonds they hold
To work out your own personal % rate
Take your total prizes, divide it by the number of months and x by 12.
Then divide that figure into your total holding and x 100.
So say £500 prizes in 6 months / 6 x 12 = £1000.
Holdings £30,000 = 1000/30000 x 100 = 3.33% interest rate.
But many on here do have £50k and then consider moving it to an account that pays 4% if their bonds aren't doing very well as would then def get extra money
But remember savings /interest get taxed
PB and their winnings don't
So anything over 3% in winnings is considered good.
So they do dither whether to pull out from pb and put in high interest account if not winning anything so that they will def earn x amount of interest
But then lose the what if won a million or £100k
If you have PB but not sure if you have ever won esp if moved about a lot
you can write to NS&I. Include these details in the letter:
Current name
Current address
Premium Bond holder number
All previous addresses where you might have registered bonds
Your signature
You can send your letter to:
NS&I,
Sunderland
SR43 2SB.
There are 2 apps afaik
Cream - prize checker and if won previous month will show a pic - which we all get excited over 😂😂😂
Blue - the app its self works but the showing early often doesn't work for me but those who reinvest their winnings say it shows if won the day before app shows 🙀🙀🙀
Seems the higher the winnings the earlier it shows and can be from 6pm the night before the app shows
And to confuse things I have a White app that is a bookmark - which shows info/list 😄😄😄
Now this has been debated on MANY times but seems to be correct
When do we find out if going to get a visit from AM 😂
The two winners of
the £1million prizes will be contacted by Agent Million (AM) 😂😂 the day before the first working day of the corresponding month.
There may however be
exceptions to this, such as when the first working day of the month is a
bank holiday, for example.
So
Day before first working day - Millionaire knock /call
First day of working month - list showing all winners million to £1k winners - which I always put up for those who can't find it
Day after first working day , including weekends - cream app showing all winnings
You can also check to see if have won via this link with your holders number
www.nsandi.com/prize-checker
Hopefully I've covered everything
Good luck one and all 😄