A Couple of Premium Bonds Questions

Dopple

Having taken up my full ISA allocation (and have the funds to do the same again next tax year) I am going to dabble in Premium Bonds.
My main question is what is the best time of the month to deposit money, taking into account the month wait to be entered into a draw and the time it takes for the deposit to clear?

Also, my girlfriend has a £2 bond (that her Mam bought in 1967).
The number seems to be invalid on the NS&I search.
Is this bond still valid and if so how do you check to see if it's ever won anything?

Thanks.

Aegis

Dopple wrote: »

Having taken up my full ISA allocation (and have the funds to do the same again next tax year) I am going to dabble in Premium Bonds.
My main question is what is the best time of the month to deposit money, taking into account the month wait to be entered into a draw and the time it takes for the deposit to clear?

Also, my girlfriend has a £2 bond (that her Mam bought in 1967).
The number seems to be invalid on the NS&I search.
Is this bond still valid and if so how do you check to see if it's ever won anything?

Thanks.

Have you considered other options? If you're not a higher rate taxpayer, you're statistically more likely to come off better by saving your money in a normal savings account and spending half the interest on Lotto tickets. If that doesn't put you off them, then you should ask yourself why you'd "invest" in them over the other suggestion

Anyway, I think the rules are that if you buy the bond you have to wait a full calendar month before you're eligible. If this is the case, then you should buy on the last day of the month. Check the site to find out if this is correct though.

Mikeyorks

Towards the end of the month .. but taking the clearance times into account in order you 'have' the Bonds by the month end :

http://www.nsandi.com/products/pb/howitworks.jsp#cdcc3

I don't think you can search on a Bond number - it's the 'Holder' number you need. It will still be valid .. but may be recorded against an old address in which case any prizes (unlikely in the light of the value) won't have been notified (but will still be available). You (she .. to be accurate) can contact them for the Holder number if you don't have it. As here :
http://www.nsandi.com/help/holdersnumbers.jsp

westy69

i dont see why people are so negative about these at the end of the day £3k or whatever amount you choose upto the £30ki s never going to earn you a fortune in interest so why not stick it in PB's? at least you have a chance of winning something all be it a small chance .....

is that the wrong view?

BTW what Aegis says is correct about the timing

ariba10

You can buy bonds online.

If you buy before midnight on the 31 Jan they will be included in the March draw.

bobandsandra

Aegis wrote: »

Have you considered other options?

Aegis is right. I have held the maximum allowance of premium bonds for many many years and admittedly have had a number of £50 and £100 wins and once had a £1000 win and a £500 win but even taking these into account I would have been better putting the money into a high interest account which guarantees you interest every month or year. There are no guarantees with premium bonds apart from the old saying that if there's winnings to be won then "somebody's got to win it"
I've just withdrawn all of mine having read somewhere on this site that the interest rate on premium bonds has just been reduced making winning even less likely. Good luck

dunstonh

I am going to dabble in Premium Bonds.

Would you put your money in a savings account and then withdraw the money each month and buy scratch cards? That is effectively what you are doing with Premium bonds.

Pendle_Gazza

dunstonh wrote: »

Would you put your money in a savings account and then withdraw the money each month and buy scratch cards? That is effectively what you are doing with Premium bonds.

I don't go in for all these negative comments about bonds. We all lose out every day on all kinds of bills and purchases. It's just a bit of fun, and a lot of luck.

A small percentage of your cash ain't gonna do any harm. I've got £5K, won very little, but hey, I like the thought it 'could' happen ;-) Go for it, and good luck.

Aegis

Pendle_Gazza wrote: »

I don't go in for all these negative comments about bonds. We all lose out every day on all kinds of bills and purchases. It's just a bit of fun, and a lot of luck.

A small percentage of your cash ain't gonna do any harm. I've got £5K, won very little, but hey, I like the thought it 'could' happen ;-) Go for it, and good luck.

The problem is that people see them as more than a little fun. Often people think they are actually a good investment, citing the claim that you can always get your money back when you want to. The problem with that is that with CPI at 2.1% and RPI at about 5%, that capital value is worth 2-5% less each year. Putting it into a saving account mitigates that loss to a greater or lesser extent, but the only real method to increase your money is to consistently beat inflation in the long run.

westy69

dunstonh wrote: »

Would you put your money in a savings account and then withdraw the money each month and buy scratch cards? That is effectively what you are doing with Premium bonds.

but you dont get your money back on the scratch card if you dont win.

just my opinion each to his/her own i guess

westy69

Aegis wrote: »

The problem is that people see them as more than a little fun. Often people think they are actually a good investment, citing the claim that you can always get your money back when you want to. The problem with that is that with CPI at 2.1% and RPI at about 5%, that capital value is worth 2-5% less each year. Putting it into a saving account mitigates that loss to a greater or lesser extent, but the only real method to increase your money is to consistently beat inflation in the long run.

again a good point but with the cost of living including owning cars (assuming you do) you can never avoid losing momey however hard you try unless you trade cars as an example, i can understand your point about CPI and RPI but i think that sometimes people get carried away with this idea and as pointed out 5K is hardly going to earn or lose a fortune in interest.