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.
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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