NS&I has responded to a concern from a customer about a shortfall in how many Bonds they could purchase online.
Each saver can hold up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds, with many customers arranging their account so any cash prizes they win are used to buy more Bonds, so increasing their chances of winning again.
The customer asked: “I have £30,025 invested in Premium Bonds but the maximum I can add is £18,575, which would be £48,600, not £50,000. Why?”
NS&I replied to say they would need to look into this particular case. They said: “If your Premium Bonds account is showing an inaccurate headroom amount, we’d need to look into this for you.
“Please call us free on 08085 007 007 and an advisor can investigate what is causing the discrepancy.”
There was a similar incident back in April this year, when a customer contacted NS&I as the amount they could invest was ” less than it should be”.
They also said they had tried to make a transaction and it had failed twice and “each time it did the maximum I could invest went down. “
In this previous case, NS&I said: “Your account’s ‘headroom’ is reduced to prevent any further deposits from being made that will take your account over the maximum holding.
“The deduction on the account’s headroom is automatically reduced as soon as the amount you wish to purchase is keyed on the system, as we expect the sale to proceed successfully.
“Your headroom will return to normal after a full 24 hours since the last attempted deposit.”
When buying more Bonds, you have to purchase at least £25 worth. Prizes in the monthly draw range from £25 up to a jackpot £1million.
The prize draw rate is currently 4.4 percent with the odds of winning at 21,000 to one.
Each £1 Bond in the draw has an equal chance of being paired with a prize but as it’s purely a matter of luck who wins, you can go months or even years without winning anything.
One advantage of Premium Bonds is they can be cashed in at any time, with some people keeping their Bonds as an emergency fund should they suddenly need extra funds.
