NS&I breaks silence over Premium Bonds anger and says 'it's equal'

A National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds customer has warned they "have not won a penny" in 60 years - and declared they would be better off playing the National Lottery. The NS&I customer has hit out at the Treasury-backed financial institution over Twitter/X.

"Hilarious scenes as I try to update online details for £7 in UK Premium Bonds my mum bought for me 60 years ago. Took three phone calls from Belgium to @nsandihelp (who kept getting my phone number wrong)," they wrote.

"Totalling 32 minutes, which am pretty sure will have cost me more than £7." But a second, who has had Bonds for six decades, said "in all that time I have never won a single penny". But the original poster replied: "Where can you buy hope for £7?".

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The saver responded: "True! Though I suspect I'm more likely to win the lottery, or write a bestselling novel." NS&I replied: "Every number has a separate and equal chance each month of winning a prize, however the more Bonds you buy, the better your chances of winning.

"The odds of winning a prize with a £1 Bond are 24,000 to 1." You don't get a Premium Bond interest rate like you would have with most savings products, instead they have an average rate of return. For every £1 bond, the odds of you winning a prize are 21,000 to one, so pretty slim.

This translates to a “prize rate” of 4.4% (previously 4.65%). Money experts say Premium Bonds could be worth investing in if you have a lot of money to save (the more bonds you have, the bigger your chance of winning a prize).

It may also be worth it if you pay tax on savings interest (and have already used up your annual cash ISA allowance) or if you like the idea of a prize draw (you could win big, but you also may not win anything).