NS&I sends message to people who've bought Premium Bonds in 'last 50 years'

People who have Premium Bonds have been urged to persevere and not cancel their accounts - after a winner won this month's jackpot after a 50-year wait. The two jackpot prizes went out this month to a saver from Warwickshire, with winning Bond number 286CJ469715, and a saver from Cornwall, with winning Bond number 567MN061686.

Other big prize winners in this month's draw who previously had low holdings include a saver from Kent who had just £21 in Bonds, who won £10,000. They purchased their winning Bond almost half a century ago, in June 1975.

This November marks the 68th anniversary of Premium Bonds going on sale, a savings product that's become a beloved British institution. Launched on 1 November 1956, Premium Bonds aimed to make saving accessible for all.

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On its first day alone, Brits snapped up £5 million worth of Bonds and it has since become one of the nation’s favourite savings products, with £33.7 billion paid out in prizes so far. In Warwickshire, there are currently 17,129 unclaimed prizes worth £600,975. The largest unclaimed prize in Warwickshire is worth £10,000 from the January 2005 draw.

While in Cornwall, 20,530 prizes with a total value of £724,075 are waiting to be claimed. The largest unclaimed prize is £25,000 and this was from the September 2019 prize draw. More than nine in ten prizes are now paid directly into winners’ bank accounts or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds.

This way is quicker and more secure than waiting for a cheque. People can check for unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes easily by using NS&I’s online prize checker or the prize checker app using their holder’s number. There are currently 2,473,761 unclaimed prizes worth £89,696,075 waiting to be claimed by holders of Premium Bonds.