Premium Bonds Article Discussion Area

worldtraveller

I still have a £1 bond purchased by my parents in my birth year of 1957 (the year after premium bonds were introduced), with an AB prefix.

I've yet to win anything on it! :sad:

fullstop

worldtraveller wrote: »

I still have a £1 bond purchased by my parents in my birth year of 1957 (the year after premium bonds were introduced), with an AB prefix.

I've yet to win anything on it! :sad:

There's always next month to look forward to, you never know your luck might change. :rotfl:

welshmoneylover

Back in 1967 when I was born, my nanna (bless her she's departed now) bought me the princely sum of £3 premium bonds. About 20 years ago I did actually win £50 on them.

Sue

Contessa

Do I understand this correctly? Ernie produces random numbers, these are then checked to see if they match actual bond sold. What happens if Ernie picks numbers which haven't yet been sold-does it draw more numbers or is there a shortfall in winning bonds?

dkmax_2

Contessa wrote: »

Do I understand this correctly? Ernie produces random numbers, these are then checked to see if they match actual bond sold. What happens if Ernie picks numbers which haven't yet been sold-does it draw more numbers or is there a shortfall in winning bonds?

The random numbers just keep coming until they have satistfied the criteria for that month's draw. In fact, mapping the random numbers to valid bonds is the bit where things get tricky and where they went wrong at least once. They make a great play over "bonds can't be left out of the draw" (because they were never in the 'draw' in the first place) but that's just sneaky pedantry. Bonds can be omitted from the mapping process if an error occurs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/your_money/432748.stm

Pandora123_2

Until I read this article, I didn't realise just how less likely winning a PB has become. Some excerpts:

In January 2008, some 451 people won a prize above £1,000, whereas last month the level fell to just 26.

[Martin Lewis's] calculations show if the maximum amount of £30,000 were invested into Premium Bonds, the chance of beating the top savings account over a year has dropped from one in 33 in January last year to just one in 1,000 today. And for an investor with £5,000 in bonds, the chances of beating inflation had gone from one in four to one in 1,000 today.

A year ago, almost 260,000 bond holders won a prize of £100 compared to just over 29,000 this month.

And fewer people are winning the larger prizes as well. A year ago 29 people won a prize of £50,000 compared to just one this month and 14 won a prize of £100,000 compared to just one today.

And that is before today's interest rate drop, which will no doubt result in a further decline in payouts!

Etccarmageddon

yeah Premium Bonds are now bordering on rubbish.

hector127

I've been writing about this decline in premium bonds winnings for months now.
Nobody must read the threads.
What a waste of time they are now , selling my holding , pink envelope goes in the post tommorrow for repayment of bonds

nnop

I can't complain as I bought £500 worth of PB and in two years of owning have won £200 (1x100 and 2x50)....... I think of it as being a bit of fun, however i now understand my money is safer than my other quality investments like Bradford and Bingley shares and Russian stock fund!!

and.......you never know, there could be a knock at the door with £1M :j

hutchy10

My Dad told me over Christmas that he brought me £20 quids worth when I was born but then we moved and he did not inform NS and I. I have tried to trace them on https://www.mylostaccount.com. Fingers crossed? Must have won something in 30 years!!??