Premium Bonds customer asks if prize draw can choose Bond numbers that don't exist
They asked if there were any restrictions for certain groups of people.
A Premium Bonds customer has queried how the monthly prize draw works.
They asked provider NS&I over X: "Is ERNIE generating numbers of Bonds that are not being held? Is there also any restrictions on prize amount based on ethnicity or citizenship?"
A representative of the savings giant responded: " ERNIE (our Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) generates numbers completely at random.
"While ERNIE randomly generates winning numbers, he doesn’t store any numbers, so there’s no way any Bonds can be left out of the draw.
"We match the numbers generated against eligible Bond numbers to determine the lucky winners.
"We do not restrict prize amounts for holders based on where they live or where they come from, every holder has an equal chance of winning the maximum amount on Premium Bonds."
Each £1 Premium Bond has an equal chance of being chosen for a prize in the monthly draw, including one of the two jackpot £2million prizes.
Another customer recently contacted NS&I after they had issues with the security system when changing their bank details.
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They said: "Tried to change bank details. Before I could even read the page for a code, your company was calling me to verify.
"There was crucial information I didn’t see because of the phone call which I can’t hear anyway. Ridiculous way to confirm security details."
A representative of NS&I responded to their query to explain how the system works.
They said: "When a security call comes through, you can still accept the call and return to the page to see the security code.
"Regarding not being able to hear anything, could you clarify whether the call was completely silent or just quiet?"
The customer then responded: "I didn’t answer it because I’m hearing impaired. The problem is that you don’t get very long to read the page and note down the verification code.
"It would be much better for the customer to request the call. Not for it to ring automatically."
The savings giant apologised for the issue and asked the individual to send them a direct message so they could look into the issue further.
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