Old Premium Bonds

ga3996

I have a small amount of Premium bonds (£15) which were purchased for me when I was a baby. As far as I can remember I have never won anything!

I have had a look at a few lists of winning bonds and have not yet been able to find any winners of bonds which have been purchased before the 2000's.

Are there any winners out there who have purchased bonds in the last century?

Am I more likely to get a winning bond if I sell my current bonds and purchase new ones?

Is it that there are so few, in percentage terms, purchased in the last century that the likelihood of wining with old purchased bonds is remote?

Any views, comments?

eskbanker

ga3996 said:

I have a small amount of Premium bonds (£15) which were purchased for me when I was a baby. As far as I can remember I have never won anything!

I have had a look at a few lists of winning bonds and have not yet been able to find any winners of bonds which have been purchased before the 2000's.

Are there any winners out there who have purchased bonds in the last century?

Yes, plenty, so I don't think you've been looking hard enough!

The latest list of large prize winners has 21,275 wins of £1,000 or more, of which 444 were from bonds bought before 2000, the earliest being January 1957.

ga3996 said:

Am I more likely to get a winning bond if I sell my current bonds and purchase new ones?

No, that's a myth.

ga3996 said:

Is it that there are so few, in percentage terms, purchased in the last century that the likelihood of wining with old purchased bonds is remote?

Yes, exactly that - just over 2% of prizes won by old bonds is likely to be proportional to the relative value of such bonds still held.

Sg28

You should sell your current bonds and enjoy the £15.

The chances of any bond winning a prize is 21000 to 1

Giving you a 1 in 1400 chance of winning each month. 

Which means on average you can expect to win 1 prize every 116 years. 

Misslayed

Have you had a look at this thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/81778/premium-bond-winner/p1

As you've never had the £15 'in your hand', you could just leave it there for the brief frisson of expectation every month! Someone has to win!

Albermarle

I have a small amount of Premium bonds (£15) which were purchased for me when I was a baby. As far as I can remember I have never won anything!

Not surprising with such a tiny amount of bonds.

badger09

Misslayed said:

Have you had a look at this thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/81778/premium-bond-winner/p1

As you've never had the £15 'in your hand', you could just leave it there for the brief frisson of expectation every month! Someone has to win!

Yup. My £18 worth of PBs bought shortly after launch are staying where they are. Not expecting even a small win but who knows.