NS&I saver wins £100,000 Premium Bonds prize from £7 holding

An NS&I Premium Bonds holder has won an eye-watering £100,000 from a holding of just £7. The bondholder from Scotland scooped the winnings in October's prize draw from a bond purchased in June 1971.

Premium Bonds are a savings account offered by National Savings and Investments (NS&I), one of the largest savings institutions in the UK, backed by the Treasury. The accounts don't earn interest traditionally. Instead, each bond is entered into a monthly, randomly generated prize draw. Up to £50,000 can be invested in the account overall, and prizes ranging from £25 to £1million can be won every month.

More than six million prizes worth over £399million will be paid out in October's draw. The prize fund rate for this month's prize draw is 3.6%, and the odds of any £1 Bond number winning a prize are 22,000 to one.

This month's two £1million jackpot winners hail from North East Scotland and Greater Manchester, with Bond numbers 498FZ511907 and 524KB804512, respectively.

Andrew Westhead, NS&I retail director, said: "As autumn arrives, two winners from North East Scotland and Greater Manchester are settling into the season a million pounds richer.

"Premium Bonds offer tax-free prizes to savers with every £1 Bond having an equal chance of winning in the draw, and it's great to see our Scottish millionaire winning the jackpot with a holding of £10,150."

How to check if you've won Premium Bonds prizes

Premium Bonds savers can check if they've won a prize through the NS&I website, the prize checker app, or by simply asking Alexa.

To check on the NS&I website, you'll need your Premium Bonds holder's number. For the prize checker app, you'll need your NS&I number or holder's number. You can also use these tools to check for any unclaimed prizes owed to you.

Currently, 2,646,717 Premium Bonds prizes worth £108,348,250 are waiting to be claimed.

Winners usually receive notifications of any success, including by text message or email, if they have registered their contact details. However, there are instances where customers relocate or forget to update their contact details with NS&I.

This can lead to unclaimed prizes, especially for those who opt to receive their prizes via cheque rather than bank transfer.

Mr Westhead said: "Sometimes people don't update their contact details with us, which can lead to unclaimed prizes. In Greater Manchester, there's one £100,000 prize and two £50,000 prizes still waiting to be claimed from past draws."

According to NS&I, the "best" way to receive prizes is to opt for automatic bank deposits or reinvest in more Premium Bonds, which is how 90% of prizes are currently handled.

Customers can find instructions on how to change payment preferences here.