Strange PBZ Credit SOLVED

ChrisNason

This morning I had a Bank Transfer into my main account without any key identifier. The amount was £25.00 and had a string of numbers ending NS PBZ.
I now know this is a Premium Bond prize.
It's a complete mystery why they would hide their identity. It looks like a scam test of the account. Many hours wasted on the phone and internet but maybe this will help others.

eskbanker

Admittedly the Z isn't helpful but it shouldn't be difficult to work out what NS PB stands for, especially when you should have received an email notification last week from NS&I that your PB holding had won £25!

ChrisNason said:

It's a complete mystery why they would hide their identity. It looks like a scam test of the account. Many hours wasted on the phone and internet but maybe this will help others.

A quick Google of 'NS PBZ' immediately returns numerous prominent results pointing to premium bond wins?

Olinda99

Is this the first premium bond prize you have won ?

ChrisNason

eskbanker said:

Admittedly the Z isn't helpful but it shouldn't be difficult to work out what NS PB stands for, especially when you should have received an email notification last week from NS&I that your PB holding had won £25!

ChrisNason said:

It's a complete mystery why they would hide their identity. It looks like a scam test of the account. Many hours wasted on the phone and internet but maybe this will help others.

A quick Google of 'NS PBZ' immediately returns numerous prominent results pointing to premium bond wins?

Except I gave you a clue. The search I used was the PBZ which is the prominent identifier,
The string is 14 numeric ending 0440500NS PBZ
And now I must update contact details at NS&I in case I get another £25 this century!

ChrisNason

And, just to illustrate the problem, the Google search for PBZ returns a Polish bank which set me off on the hunt.

CooperSF

eskbanker said:

Admittedly the Z isn't helpful but it shouldn't be difficult to work out what NS PB stands for, especially when you should have received an email notification last week from NS&I that your PB holding had won £25!

ChrisNason said:

It's a complete mystery why they would hide their identity. It looks like a scam test of the account. Many hours wasted on the phone and internet but maybe this will help others.

A quick Google of 'NS PBZ' immediately returns numerous prominent results pointing to premium bond wins?

At least the member was able to get the issue resolved.

It might come as easy to others with the identifiers.

Let's take that into consideration.

Save-Then-Drop

Have also just scratched my head about "PBZ" on a credit appearing on my bank statement. Googled it and 'Peoples Bank of Zanzibar' was suggested that the acronym stood for. Doubting this, as I have no connection to Zanzibar and hoping it wasn't a scam, I see on this forum Premium Bonds is the answer. Agreeing with other commentators here it's annoying that other acronyms proliferate on ones statements. 

Elze

Thank you for raising this. I did do a Google search for 'PBZ' and was grateful to find this. PBZ certainly didn't ring a bell as I have invested money with NS&I and forgot altogether they were called premium bonds. I did wonder if it was from them though, so I would have eventually checked if the amounts tallied with the prize pot. But finding this has saved loads of time!! Thank you!!!

dealyboy

It's like being on the hunt for The Holy Grail via Poland and Zanzibar ... did the Templars ever reach Zanzibar? .. haha

Congratulations anyway to Chris, @Save-Then-Drop and @Elze.

tarekac

I received a £25 credit this morning, but:
1. the draw is tomorrow (4th June)
2. I only have £100 in bonds
3. It usually takes 3-4 days to receive the prize
4. The account is to auto-invest

Must be a !!!!!!-up!

Nasqueron

tarekac said:

I received a £25 credit this morning, but:
1. the draw is tomorrow (4th June)
2. I only have £100 in bonds
3. It usually takes 3-4 days to receive the prize
4. The account is to auto-invest

Must be a !!!!!!-up!

Could it be from last month?

I had about £15 worth from the 1980s, won £25 once, they sent me a cheque as I wasn't setup online for it