Topic: Premium Bonds

[Joff]

1 x £100
1x £25

First month playing! Maybr second month, don't know

[rob1966]

1 x £100
1x £25

First month playing! Maybr second month, don't know

Excellent

Another £75 for us this month, must be around £700 this year by now.

[Joff]

Excellent

Another £75 for us this month, must be around £700 this year by now.

A nice earner for you!

[Grobbelrevell]

Interesting bump, this.

Clearing my Mum's things last week I found a 'Bondholders Card', in my name. She'd clearly bought some bonds when I was a kid but no other details really in terms of what was invested. Anyway, filled out the online form yesterday to see if I can find out what's there. Expecting about a fiver.

[John C]

Yeah, lets us know Grobbs mate

[Andy @ Allerton!]

2 x £25 for me


A bad month

[Andy @ Allerton!]

To each their own I guess.

For me, the only i'd ever invest in is property.

So if you have a second house do you leave it empty to rot or rent it out?

That's a fucking shitpile of wank I couldn't be arsed with. Maintenence. Tenants and bollocks.

[BlackandWhitePaul]

"Paul, you've just won!

Thanks to your Premium Bonds, you have won a prize.

Ready to check the amount? Have your Premium Bonds holder’s number to hand and click below."

When you receive the email above and your 1st thought is "Pleeeeeease let it be a Million, or at least One Hundred Thousand . . . ok, ok Fifty Thousand, i'll settle for that   
 
 

[John C]

Why don't some of you folks go on the Prize Checker on the 2nd of each month to find out immediately?

And have you all gone paperless so you don't get those pesky cheques giving you dosh

[BlackandWhitePaul]

Why don't some of you folks go on the Prize Checker on the 2nd of each month to find out immediately?

And have you all gone paperless so you don't get those pesky cheques giving you dosh

I have done that a few times and when looking I 1st take note of the location and hardly ever see Tyne and Wear. Most winners are down south, Essex, Hampshire, London etc.

[Red-Soldier]

"Paul, you've just won!

Thanks to your Premium Bonds, you have won a prize.

Ready to check the amount? Have your Premium Bonds holder’s number to hand and click below."

When you receive the email above and your 1st thought is "Pleeeeeease let it be a Million, or at least One Hundred Thousand . . . ok, ok Fifty Thousand, i'll settle for that   

Chances of winning each Premium Bonds prize per bond
Prize amount    Number per month    Odds of winning at least this amount per £1 bond in one month
£1 million    2    1 in 56,199,445,087
£100,000    5    1 in 16,056,988,178
£50,000    11    1 in 6,244,387,856
£25,000    22    1 in 2,809,975,413
£10,000    55    1 in 1,183,147,717
£5,000    107    1 in 556,431,007
£1,000    1,872    1 in 54,194,344
£500    5,616    1 in 14,616,261
£100    30,445    1 in 2,947,398
£50    30,445    1 in 1,638,948
£25    3,189,365    1 in 34,500
£0    112,395,782,047    Virtual certainty

[Red-Soldier]

Premium Bonds may beat easy-access accounts for savings over £4,000 - but don't expect to earn the headline 1% rate

NS&I Premium Bonds are a savings account you can put money into (and take out when you want), where the effective interest paid is decided by a monthly prize draw. You buy £1 bonds and each has an equal chance of winning, so the more you buy, the more your chances improve. See our Premium Bonds guide for full details.

However, Martin explained that although the Premium Bonds prize fund is 1%, that's not what you should expect to earn. For example, if you had £100 in Premium Bonds, it's actually impossible to earn 1%, because the smallest prize you can win is £25 – so it's all about the probability. He added: "For everybody who wins £1 million, a lot of bonds must pay nothing."

That said, Martin continued that the more bonds you have, the more you could expect to win. He noted: "If you've got up to around £1,900 in, with typical luck you'll win nothing. Then it sharply rises and keeps getting higher, until you get to the £50,000, where with typical luck you'd win 0.9% or £450 a year."

Contrasting this with the top easy-access savings account offering 0.67% interest, Martin said that most people with over £4,000, with typical luck, may be better off with Premium Bonds.



If you don't need access to your cash, you're likely better off with a fixed saver

But Martin argued that if you're happy to lock your money away, it's better to go for a fixed savings account to bag the higher interest available. He said: "If we take the top one year fix that's 1.35% – you would have to have very good luck even with the full £50,000 limit in Premium Bonds to beat locking your money away in a fix."

Zopa currently offers the top one-year fixed saver earning customers returns of 1.35%, but if you can lock your money away for longer you can bag an interest rate of 2.05% with UBL UK via Raisin fixed for five years. See our Top savings accounts guide for a detailed breakdown of what's currently on offer.

[Joff]

Around all the negativity, your bank accounts saver rate doesn't give you the possibility of a prize. And also rarely instant access to your money.
I'm happy with my bonds. Better than my ISA

[Crosby Nick]

Around all the negativity, your bank accounts saver rate doesn't give you the possibility of a prize. And also rarely instant access to your money.
I'm happy with my bonds. Better than my ISA

Halifax do a monthly prize draw I think (no idea on the value or quantity of the prizes!).

[John C]

Halifax do a monthly prize draw I think (no idea on the value or quantity of the prizes!).

I suppose if the prize was a pint with you on the first Wednesday of every month they'd attract more customers Nick.

[Crosby Nick]

I suppose if the prize was a pint with you on the first Wednesday of every month they'd attract more customers Nick.

Makes you wonder why they haven’t thought of it already.

[Grobbelrevell]

Yeah, lets us know Grobbs mate

I'll keep you posted 

[Jake]

Didnt win anything in my first month's draw. Fuck this im off to the casino!

[John C]

Didnt win anything in my first month's draw. Fuck this im off to the casino!

Hard luck Jake mate, you'll have it to look forward every month anyway.

[rob1966]

Didnt win anything in my first month's draw. Fuck this im off to the casino!

Nothing for us either this month, missus was well annoyed.

[67CherryRed]

I've won fuck all for months, will probably withdraw a grand to pay off the balance on a couple of holidays after the January draw.

[Grobbelrevell]

I'll keep you posted 

Got a letter through to say they couldn't find anything with either my name, or the Bond Number that I had on the slip that I found at my Mum's.

Not sure what happened to it, but looks like a dead end 

[John C]

Not sure what happened to it, but looks like a dead end 

People bought my lad a small amount PB's years ago and when it was all digitalised and we took a bit more interest in what he had they recognised the old holders number. Check the detail that you provided, ask for evidence of closure, got give it up Grobb.

[Joff]

£25 this month. Worst month so far 🤣

[Jake]

Hard luck Jake mate, you'll have it to look forward every month anyway.

Will just have to buy more next month eh

[west_london_red]

Now the interest rates have gone up a tiny bit, do they adjust the prizes straight away or do they stay the same?

[BlackandWhitePaul]

Now the interest rates have gone up a tiny bit, do they adjust the prizes straight away or do they stay the same?

Have they really, I had no idea.

So now I guess instead of getting fuck all interest on my savings I will get next to fuck all   

[west_london_red]

Have they really, I had no idea.

So now I guess instead of getting fuck all interest on my savings I will get next to fuck all   

Thy have gone from 0.1 to 0.25… roll out the bubbly!

[Joff]

Now the interest rates have gone up a tiny bit, do they adjust the prizes straight away or do they stay the same?

Almost certainly stay the same

[Jake]

Oh do prize rates/sizes go up/down with the base rate usually?

[west_london_red]

Oh do prize rates/sizes go up/down with the base rate usually?

They do change the number of prizes based on interest rates offered to savers every once in a while, otherwise if banks and building societies were offering significantly better returns people would just dump their bonds, but this was such a small rate change I’m not sure NS&I would even bother, hence my question. I remember when I had bonds back at about the time just before the financial crash when savings rates 5-6% the number of premium bond prizes was much larger then it is now.

[John C]

Not a good month at all this month, rather shite actually. Anyone have any good luck?

[Joff]

Yeah, fuck all for us as well

[filopastry]

Had 3 x £25 this month after sod all last month

[John C]

Had 3 x £25 this month after sod all last month

we had a few £25's but I personally had zero 

[Jake]

Nowt again for the second month running, I blame you John

Will have to pop a few hundred more in this month... surely that'll fix it.

[west_london_red]

First month in and I won sweet FA

[Millie]

Mum got 2 x £25 this month.

[67CherryRed]

Nothing since May for me.

[John C]

Sorry Jake mate.

Keep the faith everyone