November 21, 2024
NS&I advises customers to do this as prize checker ‘goes wrong’ | Personal Finance | Finance #UKFinance

NS&I advises customers to do this as prize checker ‘goes wrong’ | Personal Finance | Finance #UKFinance

CashNews.co

NS&I has issued an update after a Premium Bonds customer reported an issue using the prize checker tool as the September draw results were announced today (September 9).

The saver reached out to NS&I over X to ask: “I keep getting “something’s gone wrong” on the prize checker. Is there a problem?”

The group said they couldn’t see a problem on the system but issued a tip for how the customer might be able to resolve the situation.

They responded: “There are no problems with the Premium Bonds prize checker app, if you are being shown an error message to resolve this issue we recommend deleting and re-downloading the app to your device.”

Taking home the first £1million jackpot prize this month was a saver from West Sussex, who had winning Bond 176VT730086.

They purchased this Bond in January 2011 when they invested in £25,000 worth, and they previously had £40,000 in Bonds.

The other £1million prize went to a saver from Cambridgeshire, who holds winning Bond number 539EF052432. They purchased their winning Bond when they bought £1,000 in Bonds in May 2023, and previously they held £13,680 in Bonds.

You can check if you have any unclaimed prizes to collect using the prize checker tool on the NS&I website, as well as via the app or with an Alexa-enable device.

A number of savers who previously had relatively small holdings took home big prizes in the September draw.

This included a lucky winner from Birmingham won a £100,000 prize despite previously having just £525 in Bonds.

Another saver from Surrey who previously held just £700 in Bonds also won an £100,000 prize. Both these savers purchased their Bonds very recently, in July 2024.

Each £1 Bond has an equal chance of being paired with a prize and you can win several prizes in a single draw.

The prize fund rate for Premium Bonds currently stands at 4.4 percent while the odds of winning are 21,000 to one for each Bond.

A person can hold up to £50,000 and the more Bonds you hold, the better your chance of winning. When buying more, you have to buy at least £25 worth.