Premium Bonds customer’s ‘not working’ claim – NS&I explains the rules | Personal Finance | Finance
NS&I has explained how Premium Bonds work after a loyal customer raised concerns their Bonds were not working.
The customer got in touch over X to ask: “Have held Premium Bonds since 1994 and bought more a few months ago to see if a refresh would help and still no prizes. I’m not convinced mine are even working or in the system.”
The September prize draw took place a few days ago with the big prize winners now announced, including the two jackpot prizes for £1million.
A representative of NS&I responded to express their sympathy at the customer’s bad luck and to set out the rules.
They said: “Sorry to hear you haven’t won in the monthly prize draw. Please note it is an essential feature of the Premium Bond scheme that winning is solely a matter of luck, and there can be no guarantee of any level of return whatever the value of the holding.
“The random nature of the prize draw means that there is no predictable pattern to the frequency or value of prize wins. It is possible to experience months without winning a prize, as well as months with multiple wins.”
They also explained how the chances of winning work. They elaborated: “Currently, the odds of winning are 21,000 to 1 for every £1 Bond.
“This ratio remains the same for a holder of £1 as it does for one with the maximum holding of £50,000. The only distinction between them is that the holder of £50,000 has more ‘entries’ into the monthly draw.”
Savers have the option to set up their account so any winnings are automatically reinvested in buying more Bonds, so increasing their chances of winning again.
One lucky winner in the September draw won £25,000 despite previously only having £1 in Bonds, which they purchased over 60 years ago.
Another Premium Bonds customer recently contacted NS&I frustrated as the prize checker tool was not working for them.
They asked: “I keep getting “something’s gone wrong” on the prize checker. Is there a problem?”
NS&I said in response: “There are no problems with the Premium Bonds prize checker app, if you are being shown an error message to resolve this issue we recommend deleting and re-downloading the app to your device.”
You can check if you have any prizes to collect using the prize checker on the NS&I website, via the app or using an Alexa-enabled device.
