Buying more Premium Bonds. Timeframe

fly-catchers

I get my pension lump sum this month and intend to top up my Premium Bonds with some of it. I realise you don’t get it until the month after you pay it in. How late can I leave it till the end of January to ensure it counts towards the March draw? I will likely transfer it via my debit card.

MX5huggy

Debit card I believe is virtual instant I would go on the 30th. 

Johnjdc

On a related note, we've seen the Prize Fund rate become quite competitive against instant access accounts. Does anyone have a hunch as to whether/when we might see the maximum holding increase? On an inflation adjusted basis £50k today is equivalent to less than the £40k it was raised from, when it was raised last!

sparkiemalarkie

fly-catchers said:

I get my pension lump sum this month and intend to top up my Premium Bonds with some of it. I realise you don’t get it until the month after you pay it in. How late can I leave it till the end of January to ensure it counts towards the March draw? I will likely transfer it via my debit card.

January is, in my opinion, the best month to buy premium bonds as February is a short month 
Good luck !

sx

propertyrental

How about the reverse? With a house purchase coming up I'll need to sell my PBs. What's the best time of the month to do that?

[Deleted User]

Hi.

propertyrental said:

. What's the best time of the month to do that?

immediately after the monthly draw, hopefully after a big win.

eskbanker

propertyrental said:

How about the reverse? With a house purchase coming up I'll need to sell my PBs. What's the best time of the month to do that?

They'll optimise this for you, if you want to sell immediately after a draw:

You can request in advance that we cash in your Premium Bonds after the next draw. If so, you’ll be able to change or cancel your request until the day before the last two working days of the month. 

Otherwise you cannot stop or change an instruction to cash in. 

• If you apply to cash in your Premium Bonds in the last two working days of a month, we’ll usually delay the cashing in so your Premium Bonds are entered into the next month’s draw. We do this to allow us to finalise the numbers of eligible Bonds for the draw.

cwep2

propertyrental said:

How about the reverse? With a house purchase coming up I'll need to sell my PBs. What's the best time of the month to do that?

When you withdraw, it gives you the option to withdraw after the next prize draw.
The draw happens on 1st business day of the month and prizes are announced on the 2nd business day of the month, this is also the best day to withdraw it. So if the 1st is a monday-thursday, withdraw on the 2nd, it is not instant, but tends to come to your linked account 1-2 (business) days later, although officially they say allow 5 days.

Weekends and bank holidays can make this later, if the 1st is a Saturday, you can't withdraw until 4th and won't hit your account until 5th/6th. Given you want to deposit the money by 1-2 days before the end of the month, there's effectively a 5-7 day period you won't earn anything for any deposit/withdrawal cycle so it doesn't lend itself well to short term saving (1-3 months), it's closer to a short term notice account than instant access, but with the benefit that you can withdraw (with a few days notice!) if you need it mid month in an emergency.