Premium Bonds holder wins £50k prize with a £10 bond bought in 1990 | Personal Finance | Finance


Young multiracial couple enjoying their time together on rooftop

A Premium Bonds holder has turned £10 into £50,000 in February’s prize draw (Image: Getty)

A Premium Bonds holder has turned £10 into £50,000 in February’s prize draw – equating to a return of 499,900 percent. The winner, from Essex, bought the winning £10 bond in June 1990 and hasn’t added any additional funds into the National Savings and Investments account since.

Another Premium Bonds holder based in Cambridgeshire won a £100,000 prize from £2,500 worth of bonds bought in August 2023.

Another holder, based in Brighton and Hove, won £100,000 from a bond worth £5,795 purchased in February 2023.

As seen from the evidence above, Britons can win tens of thousands with a small investment by holding Premium Bonds, but are they worth it?

A very affectionate middle-aged couple at sunset.

Many use Premium Bonds accounts as a way to save money whilst a chance to earn big (Image: Getty)

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) Premium Bonds allow investors to buy bonds, with a minimum of £25, and have the chance of winning money in return.

With a max prize of £1 million, many use Premium Bonds accounts as a way to save money whilst being in with a chance to earn.

Every month there is a prize draw which offers the chance for two holders to win the £1million jackpot. Even those who don’t win the top prize can still get cash prizes worth up to £100,000.Here’s a breakdown of the amounts someone could win:

  • £25
  • £50
  • £100
  • £500
  • £1,000
  • £5,000
  • £10,000
  • £25,000
  • £50,000
  • £100,000
  • £1,000,000

The Premium Bonds prize rate is 4.65 percent and the odds of winning a prize are 21,000 to 1. However, an expert has stated that if someone has typical luck based on the median average, they will earn less than 4.65 percent.

Father, Mother and Baby Use Laptop Computer at Home Apartment.

Britons can win up to £1million with Premium Bonds (Image: Getty)

On The Martin Lewis Money Show, money saving expert Martin Lewis said: “The maximum investment is £50,000. So as a general rule of thumb, if you are a higher or top-rate taxpayer, you have enough savings that you pay interest on it, and you’re looking at putting a large amount in, they can be a pretty good bet.

“If you’re looking at putting a few hundred quid in and you don’t pay tax on your savings, you would be a lot better off with a normal savings account where you’re guaranteed to get the interest.”

Although the Money Saving Expert has shared his thoughts on Premium Bonds, he does confirm that people’s money is safe with NS&I, adding: “It’s a savings account where the interest is dictated by a lottery.”

He added that anyone with investments in Premium Bonds can take their money out safely: “Yes, you can take your money out – but you can take your money out of any easy access account.”

Become an Express Premium member
  • Support fearless journalism
  • Read The Daily Express online, advert free
  • Get super-fast page loading

From next month, the prize fund will be cut to 4.4 percent, but savers will not see odds go down and they remain at 21,000 to 1.

NS&I says the cut is due to its “requirement to strike a balance between the interests of our savers, taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector.”

It is doing that by reducing bigger prizes – excluding the two £1million offerings – and adding in far more £25 wins. For example, it’s expected there will be 85 £100,000 prizes in March versus 91 in January.

Meanwhile, there will be 1,425,338 £25 prizes in March versus 1,037,784 in January – a rise of 37.3 percent.

To check Premium Bond winnings, people can go online to NS&I’s website and use their prize checker tool. Alternatively, they can use the NS&I app (available on Android or iOS).

If they use the website or app, they will need their NS&I number and Premium Bond number to hand.

According to NS&I, the largest value prize left unclaimed in Dorset is worth £10,000 from the November 2019 draw. Similarly in Wandsworth, a £10,000 prize from the June 2022 draw has not been claimed.

To check for any unclaimed prizes, people can call NS&I, or they can write to them if they are not registered with NS&I for phone or online services.



Source link