Premium Bonds

[roydo]

So, just went up to me me old man on Dads Day, and he had dug out 4 Premium Bonds that I was given when I was Christened. Dated 10th May, 1965!

Got to write to NS&I to register them again, and then I will find out if I have won any prizes over the last 47 years!

Apparently, any unclaimed prizes are left open for ever, no time limits at all, so lets wait and see, with fingers crossed!!

Anyone ever won on these things??

 

[Alio]

I've got £25 worth of them. I may just cash them in, times are hard FFS

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Mrs bought some as you can always cash them in and also have a chance of winning.

 

[Phil Neville Superstar]

Had £100 worth for about 6 years now, still not won a penny

 

[EFCNIK]

I think I've got some but I don't know what the **** they are.

 

[Del]

In a typical draw, each bond's chance of winning a million is over 40 billion to 1. Of 40 billion pounds in Premium Bonds, each month, there are over 1.7 million prizes given out of between £25 and £1 million each. Over 1.6 million of these are £25, 30,000 are £50 and £100 and the remaining 5,000 or so are between £500 and a million (only one is £1 million though).

 

[Deloodid]

In December 2008, NS&I dropped significantly the interest rate (and therefore the odds of investors winning a prize) due to the corresponding significant drop in the Bank of England base rate during the "credit crunch", leading to strong criticism from Members of Parliament, financial experts, and holders of premium bonds; many claimed that Premium Bonds were now "worthless", and somebody with the maximum £30,000 invested who has "average luck" would win only 10 prizes per year compared to 15 in the previous year.[13][14] Investors with smaller although still significant amounts will probably fail to win anything at all.
Based on odds as of July 2010 of 1/24000 the expected number of prizes per year for someone holding the maximum of £30,000 worth of bonds has now returned to about 15 per year (The calculation is 1/24000 x 12 (draws per year) x 30,000 (number of bonds held)) - from wiki

 

[Slavan]

Had £100 worth for about 6 years now, still not won a penny

same.

 

[Kurt.]

A client on our books at work actually won the 1 million pound prize about 2 years ago....he is still a prik though.

 

[Saliba]

So confused, wouldn't it make more sense to hold normal issue Bonds? The coupon payments and redemption at maturity would actually make you some money rather than holding a glorified lottery ticket?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

So confused, wouldn't it make more sense to hold normal issue Bonds? The coupon payments and redemption at maturity would actually make you some money rather than holding a glorified lottery ticket?

Quite. First Direct are offering 8% on a 1 year no access savings account. Bit of a no brainer isn't it?