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A Premium Bonds holder has expressed their frustration at not winning any prizes in over 50 years.
The dismayed customer asked provider NS&I on X: “Is it possible to change numbers? I’ve had Premium Bonds for over 50 years and never won a penny.”
As there is a prize draw each month, this means if they had Premium Bonds for all of this time, they would have been entered into more than 600 prize draws, but still not taken home a prize.
Unfortunately, the group responded to say this would not make any difference to her odds of winning. A representative said: “The only way this can be done is by withdrawing the Bonds and reinvesting them.
“While this is certainly possible, it’s important to note that there is no material benefit in doing so, as every single Bond number has the same chance of winning as every other number.”
As each Bond has an equal chance of winning. the only way a person can increase their chances of winning in a given monthly draw is to buy more Bonds. A person can hold up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds.
In other bad news for the unlucky customer, NS&I announced this week it is cutting the prize fund rate from 4.65 percent to 4.4 percent.
Andrew Westhead, retail director at NS&I, said: “These changes reflect our requirement to strike a balance between the interests of our savers, taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector.
“In a dynamic savings market, it’s important that our rates are set at an appropriate position against those of our competitors as we work towards meeting our annual Net Financing target.
“After these changes, the Premium Bonds draw in March is expected to pay out over 5.7 million tax-free prizes totalling more than £444million to savers across the UK.”
In contrast, another saver had a happy surprise when they discovered they had 23 unclaimed prizes to collect. They said they had never been notified of any of their winnings.
X user Anne Hodgkins contacted NS&I to ask how she could transfer over her winnings. The retired woman asked the group: “Your app informs me that I have 23 unclaimed prizes.
“I have input my bank account on the system. How do I initiate transfer of the prize money? I have never received any notification of these prizes.”
The provider replied to explain the process. A representative said: “If you give us a call on 08085 007 007 and ask the AI assistant to transfer you to an agent, they will be able to get the prizes re-issued to your bank account.”
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