NS&I warns Premium Bonds saver their Bonds may not be eligible for prize draw
Each £1 Bond that goes into the monthly draw has an equal chance of winning a prize.
Premium Bonds savers have been warned that not all their Bonds may be eligible to go into the monthly prize draw.
A customer got in touch with NS&I over X as they were about to purchase some Bonds.
They asked: "I am about to open a Premium Bonds account. Could you tell me if the account needs to be active and Bonds allocated before the one month waiting period starts?"
A member of the customer support team said in response: "Premium Bonds must be held for a full calendar month before they are entered into a prize draw.
"Once they have been held for a full calendar month, they will be eligible to win prizes on the following draw."
Prizes in the monthly draw range from as low as £25 up to £1million, with each £1 Bond that goes into the draw having an equal chance of being paired with a prize.
The prize fund rate is 4.4 percent with the odds of winning at 21,000 to one. New savers with NS&I may want to note that Premium Bonds do not have an interest rate as with a conventional savings account.
People who in cash prizes often used the funds to buy more Bonds, so increasing their chances of winning again.
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One benefit of Premium Bonds is they can be cashed in at any time, although customers sometimes report having issues with accessing their funds.
Another saver recently contacted NS&I as their funds had not arrived in their account on the day they were supposed to arrive.
NS&I said in response: "If you were informed a payment would arrive today, it can take up until the end of the banking day to arrive - in this case, it will be 5pm today."
The customer went on to say: "See it’s usually in by 11.30am and it’s my holiday money and it’s still not in - is this because of the IT issues that’ve happened?"
The savings giant replied: "The funds should still arrive before the end of the banking day in the UK.
"If they're not with you by 5pm BST today, please get back in touch."
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