PREMIUM BONDS DEC/JAN 2026

[Blondeshavemorefun]

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 £1800 in prizes at 3.6%

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

https://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, we had the highest 4.65% But it has been steadily falling since, and of August 2025 it’s 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

But

£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 £1800 (3.6% 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

Winnings divided by amount have x 100

So say over the year 450 on fh ,1700 on fh and £25 on £1000

450 / 50000 x 100 =.9% so bad

1700/50000 x 100=3.4% so good

25/1000x100=2.5% so an average return

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& date of birth

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
AM - Day before first working day - Millionaire knock /call
LIST - First day of working month showing all winners million to £1k winners - which I always put up for those who can't find it
APP - 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 😄

2025 was a good year for me. £3100 winnings on FH which is 6.2%. As an additional rate tax payer, this is a great net yield.

Started 2026 with £275! Hurray.

No win for me this month unfortunately. Congrats to everyone who did win a prize.

Wow what a return. I’ve had between 3 and 5k for 6 years and i’ve probably won about £500 ish the whole time ( not complaining my return last two years is still near enough 4%)

ETA quoted wrong post: replying to @Higglea

Sorry I don’t understand what you mean

I think they mean that they are only getting 1 prize each month.

@Wonderknicks to be winning every month so far on a middling holding is great. Yesterday was my first win since Aug. Some months you might get a couple of prizes, but on many more months you will get none at all. Even those on FH have dry spells.

Yah PBJ

Ok, thanks. Friends show me their lists of prizes!

Oh right

then yes @Wonderknicks. If you are winning something every month esp on £25k you are doing better then some who have fh and don’t win for 3/4mths

£25 for me on FH. £0 for DH on FH (2nd month in a row) and £50 for DD on FH. We’ve not got 2026 off to a flying start…😩

That’s bad luck twice nothing for dh on fh

I've had £25k in since November and won £50 Nov and £75 (£50 & £25) today. I'm pleased!

My grandma wants to give me money to buy premium bonds for my baby. Do you think this is a good idea?

She has also opened a bank account for her. I would be tempted to put more in the bank. Do you think premium bonds would pay off over 18 years?

Well as I buy for my grandson do his bday and Xmas so £50 a year and he’s 4 and has won £50 x 2 in the short time , I say yes worth it

Depends on how much your GM is going to invest. Smaller amounts statistically do better in high interest savings accounts. Have a play around with this calculator to get an idea moneymarvel.co.uk/calculators/premium-bonds/

£25 for me, on a full holding.

£125 win on £10,300 holding, so a good start to the new year, after three months of nothing.

I use PBs as an easy access account while I consider where to put savings - or to hold until next year's ISA allowance is available

Bad idea, the returns are relatively low.

Set up a JISA and buy a global tracker - this will likely see a far greater return over an 18 year period.

I couldn’t agree more. Get that money growing.

I know others here withdraw money for their tax bills - I’ve got about £3k to pay due to rental income, but am by no means a wealthy landlord before anyone hates me (recently single mum, scraping by and paying ££££ for rent myself ATM!). I have about £14k in premium bonds and then have various other savings accounts, mainly regular savers with quite good rates and then an ISA with a now fairly rubbish rate, that I take money in and out of all the time. Probably about £20k savings overall, (I saved up to leave my ex) which will go towards buying a flat this year. Just wondering what others would do for the tax bill, as if I’m going to take it out of PB (no interest lost, so probably the best plan overall) I was thinking I should probably withdraw it now and stick it in savings until the end of the month… or would you leave the PBs as they are, and take it from the ISA as that’s the lowest rate (it’s now around 4% I think) rather than from one of the higher rate savings accounts? 🤔 asking here as I know you are more likely to understand the in-it-to-win-it option of leaving the PBs untouched rather than telling me I’m crazy! It’s taken a long time to build those up (and we live in irrational hope after all!!).

I wouldn’t take anything from an isa this year unless you can afford to repay it in full before 6 April. at the moment an isa is a lifetime tax free vehicle and this is the last year you can have 20k cash invested to then carry over. I’d think about all things in terms of maximising lifetime tax efficiency

It’s next year that’s the last one for carrying over £20k:

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/blog/savings/understanding-the-new-ISA-rules

Excellent, that’s good news

Gosh I hadn’t even thought of that, thanks everyone! I tend to just drop money in and out of the ISA (move all my salary over, then move it back to current account within a week to pay rent etc) to maximise interest, but wasn’t thinking beyond that. I’ll have a good think about how to maximise the allowances considering I’m selling my rental property to fund our post separation home and see if I can max out both years allowances if possible - thanks again so much for bringing this to my attention in this context, I’m so glad I asked here!

£150 for me on £35k.

Thanks, I was thinking JISA.

I was stung by my own childhood investments maturing during the financial crisis. But I understand a global tracker fund should be the best option.