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 😄

Found you!

Fingers crossed for a lucky 2026!

Thank you. Yes, my lender only allows 10% overpayment per year. I could theoretically pay it all off, but that would eat into my own savings and I feel like I want to keep some of the money back for a while, maybe I just want to see higher numbers in my bank account!

I just set up an account and it was actually pretty straightforward! I don't know if I just missed how to set it up without putting money in, but anyway, I've just bought my first £25 worth of PB!

It's a start!

Excellent, good luck!

Being mortgage free is a huge plus

and you can replenish savings .etx into pub each month which what you would have paid the mortgage if makes you feel any better

Thank you Blondes, I’ve finished this year at around 3.5%

Marking place for next draw.

Glad to find you. Hope we all sweep the board in 2026.

Just calculating returns for fun and I've won 650 on holdings of about 24k (been adding to this over the year). Not sure if it's any good or not as an investment, but fingers crossed for a big win soon in the new year!

So I am at 1.48% return this year but at least it's still saved and not spent and Agent William is coming for New Year ....

I had 5.1%, largely due to a very unexpected £500 win in the summer. All of my wins this year came from bonds I'd bought 7 - 12 years ago. None of my reinvested prizes hav won anything (yet) over the years. Usually I get around 3.0%.

I'm at 3.8%, which I'm happy with, because it's my first year with a larger holding. I received a small inheritance last year when my mother died so the lot went into PB, and I'm reinvesting plus adding a bit when I can. I have no property or other savings.

I usually get paid 2 or 3 days before the end of the month and transfer over some into Premium bonds then. I also add bits and pieces over the course of the month, but I'm seeing on here that it's better to put it in an savings account so I can make some interest on it as bonds have to be held for at least 30 days? Is there not a penalty for withdrawing from a savings account or is worth doing it?

Thats low at 2.7% but many do a lot worse

650/24000 x 100

@kualitate as PB winnings are tax free, the 2.7% is more valuable the higher rate of tax payer you are.

A potential penalty depends on the terms and conditions of your savings account. Also PB's have to be held for at least one calendar month, so there's no point buying bonds now - wait until the 31st. If not that's three weeks of guaranteed interest you'll be throwing away.

I’ve just worked out my percentage it’s something like 0.0006 😭😭😭 anyway I’m not too worried because it’s getting me into the habit of saving and I have a much higher amount in there than I did this time last year which means I have a decent safety net.

🤞 hope I get a better return next year though

If anyone's interested, I've just worked out my earnings for the last 4 years (as far as my online records go). I've had varying amounts in there over that time, including up to the full amount, but have since moved money around to ISAs instead. I've won 4,175 in 5 years... again, no idea if it's good or not, but was less than I was expecting, haha!

If you had fh for a while think it was 1700/800 a year

but if you moved and ended up with a few thousand then be good odds

that’s £835 a year

64,625 between me and DH and have won exactly 3,000 so 4.64% return. Pleased with that.

late joining the party, found you!

Would you believe it, we're half way there and some of us are still livin' on that prayer. It's the monthly thread singalong time:

Whoop. God I need some money !!

I believe it’s a few more days until we reach the half-way point?

What’s a day or two between friends 😍

now as the day before the first working day is a bank holiday aka NYD - I’m unsure when the call/knock may be as bank holidays throw it out

AM - possibly nyd or nye as that’s not a bh
LIST - Fri 2nd jan
APP - Sat 3rd Jan