National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has explained why Premium Bond winners and winnings are sometimes announced and paid later in a new update to customers.
Premium Bonds are a savings product from NS&I where investor’s money is entered into a monthly prize draw, offering tax-free cash prizes ranging from £25 to £1million, rather than earning traditional interest.
More than 5.9 million prizes are up for grabs, and winners are drawn at random on the first of every month.
Each investment must be at least £25, and up to £50,000 can be invested in Premium Bonds overall. Every £1 invested is given a unique reference number and has the same odds of winning.
However, one customer questioned the length it takes the savings institution to announce the winners and subsequently pay the winnings into accounts.
Addressing NS&I, the customer wrote on social media platform X: “This month wasn’t too bad but I don’t understand why some months the results of Premium Bond winnings doesn’t appear until 3 sometimes 4 days into the new month. (sic)
“You are also extending the time before winnings appear in customers accounts, now a week later.”
NS&I responded: “Our prize results are updated on the second working day of the month; however, this may occasionally be delayed by a few days due to weekends at the start of the month.”
It continued: “If your prize options are set to be paid directly into your bank account, we will always pay these out on the seventh banking day of the winning month. For example, this month, the prize payment date will be the 9th.”
October’s £1million jackpot winners hailed from Derbyshire and Gloucestershire, holding £50,000 and £29,900 in Premium Bonds respectively.
A total of 5,991,306 prizes worth £461,330,525 have been paid out in this month’s draw.
Premium Bonds winners are usually notified when they win a prize if their contact details are up to date, or holders can easily check potential winnings via the NS&I website, the prize checker app, or simply by asking Alexa.
To check on the NS&I website, customers will need their Premium Bonds holder’s number, while for the prize checker app, they’ll need their NS&I number or holder’s number.
People can also check for any unclaimed prizes owed to them. According to NS&I, there are currently 2,459,320 prizes worth £88,403,850 waiting to be claimed.
