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PREMIUM BONDS AUGUST

1000 replies

Blondeshavemorefun · 31/07/2025 14:11

We have pinned a new post just beneath this one with updated links from the OP. MNHQ

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.

Martin Lewis’s opinion on pb - quite an interesting read

https://www.saga.co.uk/money-news/premium-bonds

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 holding win a million (March 25) also a £100 holding 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 at 3.9%

If have £5k average luck is £175 winnings a year

If have £1.5k average luck is £25 once 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/

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 August 2025, the prize fund rate - the amount of the total fund paid out in prizes - is 3.6 %

Estimated prizes in August compared to June:
£1m - same
£100k - 4 less
£50k - 8 less
£25k - 15 less
£10k - 38 less
£5k - 78 less
£1k - 780 less
£500 - 2340 less
£100 and £50 - 16,5872 less each
£25 - 371,737 more.

So many of us may win £25 from August but means the higher value prizes are way less 🙀😢

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/nsi-premium-bonds-rate-changes-31317737

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 £1925 (3.9% interest on £50k)

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.

People 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 😄

Prize Checker

Ready to see if you have won a prize? Enter your holder's number to check if you’ve won in this month’s Premium Bonds draw. Good luck!

https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
clotheslinefiasco · 04/09/2025 10:00

greenfairy90 · 03/09/2025 17:28

FH £925 this month haven't had anything for two previous though

Wowzers - that's pretty amazing?! Are you underwhelmed?

MintBiscuit65 · 04/09/2025 11:50

Mirabai · 03/09/2025 16:30

I do wonder if they algorithmically lovebomb new customers with good returns in the early days to get them hooked.

Definitely not in my case! It took 19 months(!) for me to win anything with my first investment (£2.5K), and then it was only a £25 win. I upped my holding to over £3K, then it took another 10 months to win a further £25. My holdings are bigger now, but to be honest, I've had really bad luck over the last five years, with an average 1% return between 2020 and 2024. This year has so far been luckier for me, with a return of 4.56%, but we'll see how the rest of the year pans out!

CaveMum · 04/09/2025 12:38

Well looks like I'm not leaving you entirely after all! I went to withdraw my FH this morning ready to clear the mortgage but it told me that taking them all out would close my account down. As I don't want the faff of having to reopen an account in the future I've decided to leave £25 in 😁

MintBiscuit65 · 04/09/2025 12:49

@CaveMum Yay! May your remaining £25 bond be a lucky one!

Negroany · 04/09/2025 16:27

I've just worked out my annual return %, as it's now a year since I first had a full holding.

It's 3.6%, which is OK. I've used all other tax free options. The return is more than I would get after tax in most accounts and just a bit lower than current ISA rates (accept they have recently gone down though, so I am trailing a bit).

fussychica · 04/09/2025 18:11

Absolutely nada again!

Sweetpea333 · 04/09/2025 20:58

I've just bought £25k today. I'll see how it goes as I hate the thought of losing interest, however paltry.

westisbest1982 · 04/09/2025 21:30

Sweetpea333 · 04/09/2025 20:58

I've just bought £25k today. I'll see how it goes as I hate the thought of losing interest, however paltry.

Sorry if this sounds patronising, but did you know those £25k of bonds won’t be eligible until the November draw?

Blondeshavemorefun · 04/09/2025 22:05

CaveMum · 04/09/2025 12:38

Well looks like I'm not leaving you entirely after all! I went to withdraw my FH this morning ready to clear the mortgage but it told me that taking them all out would close my account down. As I don't want the faff of having to reopen an account in the future I've decided to leave £25 in 😁

You def can’t leave us and you can build up again

but to be mortgage free is a biggie

OP posts:
KitsyWitsy · 05/09/2025 08:44

Sweetpea333 · 04/09/2025 20:58

I've just bought £25k today. I'll see how it goes as I hate the thought of losing interest, however paltry.

Just in future, leave it till the end of the month as you will miss to on a nearly a month's interest on it now and it still needs to be in the system for a whole calendar month for the next eligible draw. So you won't be in the draw now till November. x

Lionness5 · 05/09/2025 13:35

I clearly didn't get the memo. I don't know what my numbers are, I've no idea how much I have won this year or what my % return is and I'm thrilled if I get £25. I'm impressed with you all knowing so much.

strangeandfamiliar · 05/09/2025 21:49

£75 across 2 x FH for us. Not amazing.

Have withdrawn nearly all of DH's now to pay off the mortgage. Left his £50 prize in there just in case...

bigdecisionstomake · 06/09/2025 07:27

Late to the party this month. £25 for me which I'm surprised about as I only have a relatively small holding and won £100 last month so was expecting that was all my luck used up for the year. Very happy and just added another £75 as I don't like my total not rounded up to a multiple of £100 😂

JustStopItNora · 06/09/2025 08:08

strangeandfamiliar · 05/09/2025 21:49

£75 across 2 x FH for us. Not amazing.

Have withdrawn nearly all of DH's now to pay off the mortgage. Left his £50 prize in there just in case...

You are paying off your mortgage!

That's wonderful!! Many many congratulations!!

strangeandfamiliar · 06/09/2025 20:24

Thank you - it's been a long 29 years coming!

tarmacpheasant · 07/09/2025 09:49

Thanks for the nudge OP. I've been on the fence about what to do with some cash as we're maxed out on ISAs and tax free options. I'm going to crack on....even if I'm not in the draw until November 😆

PremiumBondJovi · 09/09/2025 12:03

21 days to go. It doesn't seem too long...

OneNeatBlueOrca · 09/09/2025 13:12

PremiumBondJovi · 09/09/2025 12:03

21 days to go. It doesn't seem too long...

Scary isnt it

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/09/2025 21:12

SEPT
AM sun 31 Aug
LIST mon 1 sept
APP tue 2 sept

OP posts:
Bimblesalong · 15/09/2025 21:21

Cough Sept / Oct!

westisbest1982 · 15/09/2025 21:21

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/09/2025 21:12

SEPT
AM sun 31 Aug
LIST mon 1 sept
APP tue 2 sept

I believe the next draw is in October.

Blondeshavemorefun · 16/09/2025 16:09

Ffs. Blame working nights

lets try again

OCT

AM - Tue Sept 30
LIST - Wed Oct 1
APP - Thur Oct 2

OP posts:
JustStopItNora · 16/09/2025 16:52

I have already spent in my head my £1 mill winnings for October.

Just saying.

OneNeatBlueOrca · 16/09/2025 20:21

JustStopItNora · 16/09/2025 16:52

I have already spent in my head my £1 mill winnings for October.

Just saying.

Im already on rightmove choosing my house with the £1 million

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