Very old Premium Bonds

Grandmama

In 1963 I purchased 2 (yes two) £1 Premium Bonds with my summer hols working pay. An aunt then sent me another one(yes one) in the same year. I have diligently informed ERNIE of my change of address and checked the numbers on line (I still have the original bonds). Not won a thing. In 1963 I could have bought a pair of stiletto heeled shoes for 17/6d and a meal for 2/6d. That's old money for a pair of shoes and a meal for £1 .Obviously my three are not worth cashing in but I did wonder if anyone has ever had a sudden ERNIE windfall after years and years?

Reaper

I also have a £1 premium bond given to me at birth. It has won... nothing. Statistically neither of us are likely to win even a £25 prize in our lifetimes, let alone the jackpot. So don't hold your breath!

Grandmama

Thanks Reaper. I can breathe easier now! I wonder how many people were given one at birth etc and have never known about them. My own son and daughter , now in their forties were given one each at birth and I changed the bonds over to them at age 16. I must remind them they have one!

p00hsticks

I have around 13 £1 bonds given to me when i was a baby in the early 60's and have twice won £50 with them - once in 1978, and once in the late 80's, but statistically that does make me very very lucky!

The list of premium bond high value winners published each month gives the total holding of the winner, the value of the block containing the winning bond, and the month and year in whcih it was bought. You do occasionally see single bonds and/or ones bought a while ago winning.

For example, the million pound winning bond in June was bought over sixteen years ago, in January 1995

http://www.nsandi.com/savings-premium-bonds-high-value-winners

The list also shows that someone holding only £116 of bonds in total won £50,000 with a bond bought in December 1980, someone from Somerset with only £3 of bonds won £1,000 with a bond bought in 1971, as did the Kent holder of a single £10 bond from 1983 and soeone now living in Australia with a total holding of £5 bought in 1959. So it does happen!

Note that although the majority of winners are those bought relatively recently, this does NOT mean that any individual bond bought a while back is less likely to win than one bought more recently - it's simply a reflection of the fact that far more bonds have been bought recently than in previous decades, and that many of those bought in the earlier days have been cashed in as people die or chose to withdraw their investment. Similarly, someone with the maximum holding of £30,000 has 29,999 more chances to win a prize than someone with a single bond, and so you see more winners holding a lot of bonds winning that those with a few. It's not favouritism, it's statistics!

Grandmama

Thanks Poohsticks. I'll start holding my breath again. I am thinking of buying a new block of bonds. As you say the chances of one bond winning is the same for all but buying a block shortens(?) the odds of a win.

Reaper

Grandmama wrote: »

As you say the chances of one bond winning is the same for all but buying a block shortens(?) the odds of a win.

It makes no difference whether your numbers are in a block or not.

If you are thinking of buying some you might want to look at this calculator that tells you your odds of winning:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/

So using your £1 bond as an example:

If 200 people each held a £1 bond then over 10 years only 1 of them could expect to win a £25 prize. p00hsticks is extremely lucky to have won as much as he has.

p00hsticks

Grandmama wrote: »

Thanks Poohsticks. I'll start holding my breath again. I am thinking of buying a new block of bonds. As you say the chances of one bond winning is the same for all but buying a block shortens(?) the odds of a win.

Yes, the more bonds you hold, the more chance you have of winning something. Each sinle bond has the same chance of winning, whether it has been bought individually or as part of a larger block, but the more bonds you hold in total, the more likely you are to win overall.

libra10

If you know your holder number, you can check whether you've won here -

http://www.nsandi.com/savings-premium-bonds-have-i-won

Good luck!

p00hsticks

libra10 wrote: »

If you know your holder number, you can check whether you've won here -

http://www.nsandi.com/savings-premium-bonds-have-i-won

Good luck!

Only for the last six months draws though - I think you can write to NS&I if you want them to look further back.

saintalan

I too have one of these £1 bonds bought by my granny many years ago.

From time to time I have held a lot more bonds but was wondering, would NS&I let you buy the maximum $30,000 without giving up your heirloom that I would be reluctant to do? Meaning you would be £1 over the limit or would they stick rigidly to the rules.

Technically as the minimum purchase is now £100 without giving it up you could only hold £29,901 ;-))

atush

When my husbands mother bequeathed us a sme of money, one thing we did with a tiny portion was to buy 100 quids worth of premium bonds each (the min I think) for a total of 500.

The very next month, I won 100 quid. and now some years later, my husband won 25 or 50- can't remember. It was meant to be a bit of fun for us and the kids. And it would have been even more fun, if one of the kids had won something lol.

But then you get the 'no fairs' etc. For christmas my husband put a scratch card in each of our stockings. we aren't big lottery players, just 1 quid/week. We don't expect to win anything but do win lots of tenners- all of which goes to buy the next ticket. Once we won 70-100 think. Anyway, one of the twins won 100 quid and the others won nothing. I won 10. So i gave them 5 quid each to keep the peace lol.

To be honest, we try to save a lot in cash, investments and pensions and consider the 52+/yr spent on lottery, and the 500 premium bonds a bit of fun and don't consider it really an investment. But of course it could pay off lol. I haven't even told the boys (16-20) they have them. I will tell them they have them when they win a prize ;-)