Premium Bond Winner ?

linz

1 x £50 on full holding. Can't complain though after £625 last month.

julicorn

Second month with £47k holding, got £25 each time. I thought it was worth a punt to park my house deposit money there for 2 months, it didn't pay off in this case. 

Snapdragon

Started the year slowly, but definitely improving with £500 since July, including £75 this month, giving a total for 2022 of £675 on a constant £47300.
Not a great return, but its a tax free return which now that interest rates are improving will become a consideration for next tax year. 

ranciduk

0% return since the rate rise on £25k

ditching the lot and putting in easy access instead 

thegreenone

Both had £150 wins on full holdings.  £950 together in a year. 

KingDipper101

£75 on £40200

£2200 winnings since March, reinvested 

cricidmuslibale

Having examined this thread closely since October's draw when NS&I had first increased the prize interest rate to 2.20%, it looks as though quite a few Premium bond holders who regularly contribute to this thread with sizeable holdings (£25,000+) have had consecutive months of winning nothing at all; this has even been the case with several Premium bond holders on here who hold the full £50,000. Indeed in one example above, one very unlucky holder has had four consecutive months of winning nothing at all on a full £50,000 holding!

Now clearly even those with the full £50,000 saved in Premium Bonds are likely in what is effectively a very big national lottery to have a few months a year where they win nothing; that is entirely to be expected, despite the current prize-winning odds of 24,000 to 1 meaning that with average luck, a Premium Bond holder with a full holding will win 25 prizes every 12 months = 2 prizes per month plus 1 extra prize. However, if you have £50,000 saved in Premium Bonds and then win nothing at all for 3, 4 or even more months in a row, whilst it's still entirely feasible this is now starting to become significantly unlucky to the extent that it is also starting to become just a tad unfair in my opinion.

Obviously the main reason this considerable unevenness of prize distribution happens with Premium Bonds is because there is an awful lot of Premium Bond holders even with a full £50,000 holding out there right now, and as quite a lot of them will be lucky enough to win 4 to 5 or even more prizes in any particular month, naturally quite a lot will in the same month be unlucky enough to win 1 or 0 prizes whilst the current 24,000 to 1 prize-winning odds is maintained. That is where imo NS&I got it badly wrong with the last increase in prize interest rate from 1.40% to 2.20% in time for the October draw, in that the prize-winning odds barely improved at all from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1 when one would naturally expect a significant increase in prize interest rate to also lead to a significant improvement in the prize-winning odds.

In conclusion, if NS&I do make a further increase to the prize interest rate within the next 3 months or so due to interest rates generally (apart from on fixed rate accounts) continuing to rise in the short term, they really should at the same time take the opportunity to significantly improve the prize-winning odds to bring them much closer to 20,000 to 1. If they're not inclined to do this, even though it would be very much in the interest of fairness to do so, they should at least consider increasing the maximum Premium Bond holding from £50,000 to £60,000. Either of (or ideally both of) these measures - I'm certainly not expecting both to happen, I'd be delighted if just one of them does! - would make it significantly less likely that a Premium Bond holder with the maximum allowed holding will be unfortunate enough to win nothing at all for 3, 4 or even more months in a row when others with the same full holding are winning 4, 5 or even more prizes during several consecutive months!

A__L

I've had my bonds for over 10 years now. Winnings have been so bad recently. Here are a few examples:

2022: £100

2021: £200

2020: £350

cricidmuslibale

A__L said:

I've had my bonds for over 10 years now. Winnings have been so bad recently. Here are a few examples:

2022: £100

2021: £200

2020: £350

What was the value of your bond holding during these last three years, if you don't mind me asking, please?

diystarter7

cricidmuslibale said:

Having examined this thread closely since October's draw when NS&I had first increased the prize interest rate to 2.20%, it looks as though quite a few Premium bond holders who regularly contribute to this thread with sizeable holdings (£25,000+) have had consecutive months of winning nothing at all; this has even been the case with several Premium bond holders on here who hold the full £50,000. Indeed in one example above, one very unlucky holder has had four consecutive months of winning nothing at all on a full £50,000 holding!

Now clearly even those with the full £50,000 saved in Premium Bonds are likely in what is effectively a very big national lottery to have a few months a year where they win nothing; that is entirely to be expected, despite the current prize-winning odds of 24,000 to 1 meaning that with average luck, a Premium Bond holder with a full holding will win 25 prizes every 12 months = 2 prizes per month plus 1 extra prize. However, if you have £50,000 saved in Premium Bonds and then win nothing at all for 3, 4 or even more months in a row, whilst it's still entirely feasible this is now starting to become significantly unlucky to the extent that it is also starting to become just a tad unfair in my opinion.

Obviously the main reason this considerable unevenness of prize distribution happens with Premium Bonds is because there is an awful lot of Premium Bond holders even with a full £50,000 holding out there right now, and as quite a lot of them will be lucky enough to win 4 to 5 or even more prizes in any particular month, naturally quite a lot will in the same month be unlucky enough to win 1 or 0 prizes whilst the current 24,000 to 1 prize-winning odds is maintained. That is where imo NS&I got it badly wrong with the last increase in prize interest rate from 1.40% to 2.20% in time for the October draw, in that the prize-winning odds barely improved at all from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1 when one would naturally expect a significant increase in prize interest rate to also lead to a significant improvement in the prize-winning odds.

In conclusion, if NS&I do make a further increase to the prize interest rate within the next 3 months or so due to interest rates generally (apart from on fixed rate accounts) continuing to rise in the short term, they really should at the same time take the opportunity to significantly improve the prize-winning odds to bring them much closer to 20,000 to 1. If they're not inclined to do this, even though it would be very much in the interest of fairness to do so, they should at least consider increasing the maximum Premium Bond holding from £50,000 to £60,000. Either of (or ideally both of) these measures - I'm certainly not expecting both to happen, I'd be delighted if just one of them does! - would make it significantly less likely that a Premium Bond holder with the maximum allowed holding will be unfortunate enough to win nothing at all for 3, 4 or even more months in a row when others with the same full holding are winning 4, 5 or even more prizes during several consecutive months!

Hi
Thanks a very useful post and thanks again for the research and caring to share it with us.

We have two lots of mx holdings - returns not great - not checked this month may do tomorrow.

Thanks again.