best way and time to buy Premium bond

iamchrisli

i had been doing this for a while, i think it is worth to share with others who invests in premium bond regualy.

1. according to PB rules, you have to hold the bond more than a month to qualify the draw, which at the beginning of each month. Therefore, you should always buy the bond at the END of each month. Reason:

***If you buy the bond on 2-Jan, you should hold the bond until 2-Feb to qualify the draw, which would be hold at around 3-Mar. That means you may lose two months interest to NS&I.

However, what I am doing is :

***Buy the bond around 26-Dec, then I wait until 26-Jan to qualify the draw, which around 2-Feb.

Can you see the difference?

ALSO, NEVER use standing order to buy the bond, especially if you have Halifax cashback a/c. If you buy it on ns&i website with your debit card, you early 1% cashback, very good for regarlur PB buyers.

mcerazer

iamchrisli wrote:

i had been doing this for a while, i think it is worth to share with others who invests in premium bond regualy.

1. according to PB rules, you have to hold the bond more than a month to qualify the draw, which at the beginning of each month. Therefore, you should always buy the bond at the END of each month. Reason:

***If you buy the bond on 2-Jan, you should hold the bond until 2-Feb to qualify the draw, which would be hold at around 3-Mar. That means you may lose two months interest to NS&I.

However, what I am doing is :

***Buy the bond around 26-Dec, then I wait until 26-Jan to qualify the draw, which around 2-Feb.

Can you see the difference?

ALSO, NEVER use standing order to buy the bond, especially if you have Halifax cashback a/c. If you buy it on ns&i website with your debit card, you early 1% cashback, very good for regarlur PB buyers.

i just brought some at 15.45pm for the first time have i done it in time for the feb draw ?

thanks

grumpyoldgit_2

Yes you have :T

Good Luck

manhattan

im thinking?

the 1% cashback,where does this come from?
if you buy 30k of premium bonds 1% cashback would be £300.

now if you done this left them for over a month then cashed them in so you get your 30k back,can you then buy another 30k's worth with your card again then get another 1% back?

very sneaky idea if it would work! hahaha

so in my theory,you could have a months chance of winning on the premium bonds and £300 everytime you purchase 30k's worth of bonds again?

manhattan

if this is possible,then you could earn nearly £3600 a year from this idea.

if you had 30k in a high interest account you would probably earn around £100 a month after tax(rough estimate). which equates to around £1200 a year.

could be a possible loophole here?

manhattan

ahhh,just found the answer.

1% only on the first 10k spent.

0.1% there after.

so it wont work,damn

grumpyoldgit_2

Except your return would be less as you have to wait for each batch of new Bonds to qualify for the draw - so max draws would be 6 per annum if you got the timing right.
e.g.
Month 1 - you pay £30K
Month 2 - lies dormant
Month 3 - enters draw - cash in holding after draw - pay in £30K before month end
Month 4 - lies dormant
Month 5 - enters draw - cash in after draw - pay in £30K before month end
Month 6 - lies dormant etc etc

So every second month your money is doing nothing

Timing could be affected by NS&I taking time to pay BUT it does look as though you get max holding for half the year and your 1% each time you buy.

Ideally if you and a partner both held max and alternated the scheme you would cover the whole year and double the cashback.

Unless there is a catch in the T&Cs of either your bank card or the NS&I rules it does look like a money maker albeit one that needs patience and co-oerdination.
GoG

innovate

Another major dampener to this idea is that the max PB investment is £30K

Shame this one doesn't work - - but keep the thinking machines going, guys!!

Edited: of course, as long as you are entitled to buy more PBs, buying them with a cashback card is still a very good idea. Just not sure whether you can use a cashback card - I think you can't buy PBs with a credit card, and I am not aware of a cashback debit card. Is there one?

manhattan

innovate wrote:

Another major dampener to this idea is that the max PB investment is £30K

Shame this one doesnt work - - but keep the thinking machines going, guys!!

i was thinking put 30k in halifax 1% account buy 30k bonds.

withdraw bonds to halifax.

buy 30k bonds aagain from halifax 1% account.

and keep repeating =£300 cashback every time you buy 30k worth?

innovate

manhattan, don't take this the wrong way please, but can I have some of what you are smoking?

You can get 5% (ok, 3% or so after tax, but still at least three times more) by putting your money into a savings account. And some of it, you'd want to put into an ISA, to save yourself from tax.

I've got loadsa money (the max) in PBs myself because I fancy a flutter - but let's be serious - it's just a tad better than the lottery. How often have you won the lottery?

david78

If you buy bonds by standing order the requirement to hold them for a full calander month doesn't apply. They just go in the next draw automatically. Also you can just buy £50 per month by standing order (the £100 minimum doesn't apply). So there is some merit in the standing order idea.