Yesterday the NS&I Premium Bonds Prize Checker definitely advised me "Sorry you haven't won in the February 2014 draw" - but the response was very slow and took ages to come up. Today when I checked again i was advised I'd won £25 :) . The checker was definitely slow and unreliable yesterday so might be worth checking again today.
dunk
I think the 'checker' goes in two stages, first the big prizes, and then a day later the smaller ones. Often a more reliable way to check is login and look at your balance.....I check slavishly every month hoping for a sizeable win so I can have my pick in SC!
I must admit that I have never heard of this, but it is not surprising given that I have had quite a few bonds for a very long time and only ever won the minimum prize,( now £25 of course) a couple of times a year. So if anything better happens I'll just wait for an unexpected but nice surprise.
The big prize winners were published by last Sunday … the smaller prizes were definitely advised as being available yesterday … but was very difficult to access their system. When I did manage to access their system yesterday morning (three times … I treble checked because their system kept going down) I was definitely advised thrice I had not won. Then this morning I checked again and was advised I'd won £25. I checked again today because their system was obviously not working as fast or as reliably yesterday as in previous weeks.Originally Posted by Tim63
The smaller winners are always published by the third working day of the month … which this month was Wednesday 5 February.
dunk
Last edited by sundial; 6th February 2014 at 11:01.
I was bought my £1 bond for my seventh birthday by my aunt. I'm 63 this year and have never had a touch!
With a £1 bond you have approx 1 in 25,000 chance of winning each month. As you are 63 and have had the bond for 56 years i.e. 672 months, there has been a 1 in 37 chance you would have won over this period of time. The odds against winning have not changed much over the years but the actual prizes paid out are less since the lower value £25 prizes were introduced. If you bought £100 Premium Bond you'd lower the odds to a 1 in 250 chance of winning every month … so you'd probably win at least once over the next 20 years. To be reasonably sure of having a win every month you'd need to invest £25,000 … which is likely to give a return of £300 in prizes over a 12 month period … but could be less … or could be a lot more if you are very lucky. But the stake stays secure - unlike the lottery.
dunk
Why did you check again when you hadn't won yesterday???
Obviously a good result that you actually have, but it just seems odd to go back again!
If you read my post fully you'll see why. Not odd at all … their system was obviously not working properly yesterday.
dunk
Don't forget that Premium Bond prizes are free of income tax - not much incentive for £25 wins, but could be helpful if you scoop the big one.
The a very interesting Premium Bond calculator at this link which tells you how much you can expect to win given your investment/time (or, conversely, can tell you how lucky you have been!)
There's also an interesting article about whether Premium Bonds make sense as an investment at this link.
With such low returns on cash deposit accounts I think Premium Bonds make a good alternative for handy money at the moment.
I've never checked mine but the wife and I usually have two or three wins a month, never more than the minimum amount though.
Cheers,
Neil.
Which is why I've cashed in most of mine.
1 in 47,100,404,875 chance of the jackpot, and you thought the Lottery was tough odds.
Last edited by vRSG60; 6th February 2014 at 16:06.
But with regular small wins I've done better than a cash ISA and there's always the chance....
For real money making I stick with equities but you never know when you may want cash at fairly short notice.
Cheers,
Neil.
Sorry for the resurrection but I purchased my first £1800 of NS&I Premium bonds last week (I wanted a mustard dial Breitling but only had £1800 so bought the bonds instead ha ha)
this old chestnut again, this is incorrect as the element of chance is not cumulative, each month he remains to have a 1 in 25,000 chance regardless of previous draws or duration, a bit like the 50/50 chance of throwing a tails in coin tossing, the individual chance remains constant regardless of how many throws.
My mum bought me £100 of PB about 20 years ago - I have never "checked" them as I assumed they'd write to me if I won anything... Should I have been checking every month for the last 20 years?!
They definitely have my correct address as I remember sorting a correction out when they first issued them. Should I be calling them? Is there a 180 day claim limit like on the lotto?
You are correct and also incorrect … chance of winning in any one month is e.g. 25000 to 1 … but, if was possible to live long enough so that a bondholder is eligible for 25000 draws, he / she would eventually probably win at least once during that period. Thus the longer a bond is eligible to take part in the monthly draws, the more chance there is of it actually winning.
dunk
Last edited by sundial; 5th September 2015 at 22:06.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
There is no time limit on claiming NS&I Premium Bond prizes. NS&I would have sent you any prizes £cheques with a standard 'Congratulations' note if you'd won and if your address was/is correctly registered. If you think you might have won but not received the £cheque you can access NS&I's unclaimed winning bond prize list which lists all unclaimed prizes from June March 1957 until 2013 http://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker … scroll down and click on the "Winning Bond Numbers" option on the LHS. But if you have not changed your address it's unlikely you have an unclaimed prize.
dunk
Last edited by sundial; 5th September 2015 at 22:28.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
I know alot of self employed workers who put their saved tax money into PBs. Works for me have had a few wins, nothing major but worth transferring the money over to them. Yes there is always a slight delay in announcing the smaller prizes.
Cheers for this info!
Yay I am not the only one, my old uncle got me £1000 worth when I was born in 1978, I have never won a thing! Thought I was the only one! I had never checked them till I moved a few years back, so I checked thinking yeah there must be a few £ waiting for me... Not a penny!
Had my first decent win a few months back - £1000!
Cheers,
Neil.
I've had £5 worth for 49 years - never won a bean.
I received notification of my latest £25 win last week, it's my 13th £25 win so far this year. Only ever won £25, never more.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
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