One lucky Premium Bond holder has scooped a 100,000 per cent return on their investment after winning £25,000 on a holding of just £25 in this month’s draw.
It also proves that older purchases can win too, with the bond having been bought in November 1983 – the same month that saw Billy Joel dominate the singles chart with Uptown Girl and Sean Connery star as James Bond one last time in Never Say Never Again.
The Somerset based holder won with a £10 bond after patiently holding it for almost 40 years.
Tidy return: NS&I now pay out more than 4.8m tax free prizes ranging from £25 to £1m every month to Bond holders.
It comes after the odds of each £1 Premium Bond number winning a prize has improved from 34,500 to 1 to 24,500 to 1.
Although there are still an unchanged two £1million prizes on offer, the number of £100,000 prizes have risen from six to 10, and £50,000 prizes from 11 to 19.
Along with the boost to £100,000 and £50,000 prizes, the number of £25,000 prizes has increased from 24 to 40.
While many who have purchased Premium Bonds in recent years now choose to be alerted to a win via email, many older and smaller bonds like this one may not be signed up to an alert system, meaning it is important to check historic holdings and contact details.
As for this month’s two £1million jackpot winners, these were won with far more sizeable holdings.
One winner, from Dorset held the maximum £45,000 purchased last August, while the other winner, from Buckinghamshire, held £22,875, purchased in April 2009.
Premium Bonds Winners
| Prize | Area | Value of bond |
| £1,000,000 | Dorset | £20,000 |
| £1,000,000 | Buckinghamshire | £5,000 |
| £100,000 | West Yorkshire | £20,300 |
| £100,000 | Dorset | £10,000 |
| £100,000 | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | £5,000 |
| £100,000 | Wandsworth | £10,000 |
| £100,000 | Edinburgh | £50,000 |
| £100,000 | Central Scotland | £40,000 |
More August 2022 winners
Over the past two years a considerable amount has been stashed into Premium Bonds.
There are currently more than 118billion bond numbers eligible for the draw, up from just over 86billion eligible bonds in March 2020.
In May, NS&I upped the Premium Bond underlying prize fund rate from 1 per cent to 1.4 per cent boosting the chances of its 21million savers bagging a monthly prize.
This means NS&I now pay out more than 4.8million tax free prizes ranging from £25 to £1million every month to Bond holders.
However, it is worth noting that a win will most likely secure you one of the £25 prizes awarded each month.
For example, this month, roughly 3.34million of the 3.42million prizes awarded were for £25.
The popular NS&I product allows savers to stick up to a maximum of £50,000 in the account.
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THIS IS MONEY’S FIVE OF THE BEST SAVINGS DEALS
