PREMIUM BONDS APRIL 2026 (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[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://pbprizes.com/calculator/

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 😄

Do I need to wait for midnight for cream app results please? ☺️

Nothing for me. What a surprise

so many FH winning in my area - I can only dream

I promised myself I would not check the high value winners list this month and wait for the app in the morning.

<Sits on hands> 😬

Lovely to see

350 winning £50k
105,300,120, winning £25k
900,400,501 winning £10k
75 winning £5k

Just had a look don’t think I’m on the high value list. Let’s wait for tomorrow to see if there is anything for me

Do they email you if you win a good amount? Im new to this! Got 15k in there and first month won nothing, and have a feeling it's going to be nothing again 🤣 Good fun though!

@RosaMoline Yes...app updates at midnight (second working day each month)...although sometimes a bit earlier. I always wait until the morning!

@ForgotMyLoginAgainyou receive an actual
letter in the post asking how you wish to receive the money.

The options being to reinvest, pay directly into a nominated account or a cheque in the post.

The whole process takes a couple of weeks 💐

Oh that's great thank you. And if it's a small amount and ive already ticked on the website that i want funds reinvested, i guess there's no email or any way of telling unless you decide to login or download the app?

If it’s a small amount you will receive a text message a few days after the draw and they will simply reinvest for you

Good luck 🍀

I always check Leeds and West Yorkshire because I don't know where it would list me if I won enough to appear on the day 1 list.

As for Hampshire being very large, North Yorkshire is more than twice as big, so have a thought for bond holders in that county thinking they may have won.

I won't look at the list..but wil have to resist the temptation to keep checking the blue app to see if anything shows up there pending reinvestment.

Two HIgh winners on a similar amount to me 4-5k have won high prizes…. actually some good winners on way less than FH. Nice to see and keeps my hope alive. I’ve not won anything since June last year.

How do most people check the high value list efficiently? I find inputting bond number takes too long but am also in a London borough so feel like location isn’t narrow enough.

Are you checking on the Excel download? You can apply filters. It's a bit of a faff, especially on a phone, but do-able. I'll try post some screenshots if you need help.

I purposely have a random amount in bonds ie £6783 so I can quickly check the HVW list, thinking that it’s unlikely someone else would hold the exact same amount in my county.

No big prize here, I have an odd amount so can tell easily.

I filter by county, total holding and years of bonds bought.

I check the spreadsheet when it comes out each month but remain confused. Mostly at how I haven't won the big prize yet. But whether my £2k is treated as one bond or however many multiples of the minimum amount is?

And there always seem to be a thousand people in Hampshire winning on the spreadsheet but Scotland seems to show only as Glasgow City and North Scotland.

I will wait for tomorrow and see how much (zilch probably) i win.

When PPs say the picture on their app has changed, what do they mean? I have blue app with NS & I written in red and a creamy white app with NS &I written orangy red. Neither have pictures when I log in. Both apps up to date. I'm on Samsung phone. Might that be why?

I check in my area with my holding, and then look at the bind value and date to see if I think it matches any amount I think I put in. Mine were all added in smallish amounts so if the bond value is big, or earlier than i had premium bonds, it's easy to dismiss those. And usually after that, there's very few left that even could be mine! On the lists today there are a couple of £1000 that could potentially be a win for me, but I'll just wait to check tomorrow for those. If I suspected a bigger win, I'd be checking bond numbers is bought at that time though!

I don’t have the pics either and I’m on an iPhone. I wonder if it’s because I haven’t won anything in months?

But whether my £2k is treated as one bond or however many multiples of the minimum amount is?

@OotontheRandan One block of 2,000 bonds.

Random amount at end so not a 0 or 5 and odd number so 37 or 63

it is hard when not sure of area. My friend lives in Bromley and won £1000 quite a few times on fh but varies when checked

south london
bromley
kent

You get a pic on the cream app if you win. If you won the month before you see the pic change next month pre draw results but it doesn’t mean you have won.

I haven’t seen a pic since i last won ages ago.