As the next Premium Bonds prize draw approaches, savers are being encouraged to ensure none of their bonds have become ineligible due to exceeding the £50,000 account limit. While most people likely wouldn’t forget about such a substantial investment, other mistakes can make this possible.
For example, there is currently £92million worth of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, often because bond numbers have been forgotten. The £50,000 limit also encompasses any bonds you may have misplaced or forgotten about. If your winning bond numbers were over the limit, NS&I reserves the right to reclaim these prizes making it crucial to consolidate all your Premium Bonds investments. Particularly before adding more savings to your account.
NS&I provides a tracking service for those needing to locate potentially lost accounts including if you’ve forgotten your account details or suspect a deceased relative had NS&I savings.
This service can only be used to trace NS&I accounts or investments. You can apply via the Tracing Service on paper or online through My Lost Account.
People often opt to have their Premium Bond prizes reinvested automatically back into their account, according to Birmingham Live. NS&I suggests changing this if your balance is approaching the £50,000 limit, to prevent any winnings from pushing you over.
If NS&I detects that your next bond purchase would cause you to exceed the limit, you may encounter a ‘failed transaction’ message.
An NS&I spokesperson explained to Express previously: “The money will bounce back to your bank, this is automatic and will take two to three working days.”
MSE’s experts also pointed out that any prizes won by bonds exceeding the limit would be recouped and added to the following applicable prize draw.
The minimum investment for Premium Bonds stands at £25, while each individual bond is valued at £1.
Each bond receives its own unique identifier, making it eligible for the monthly prize draw, with the subsequent draw scheduled for Monday, June 2.
The total prize fund currently amounts to £411,118,825 according to Birmingham Live, which has seen a decrease of £18.9 million from the previous draw and will be distributed across 5,901,229 prizes.
Despite these changes, the odds of bagging a prize remain set at 22,000 to 1, but there will be roughly 20% more £25 prizes available, decreasing the chances of winning higher-value prizes markedly.
