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NS&I has fielded questions from an unlucky Premium Bonds holder who has won nothing despite holding Bonds for 55 years.
Twitter user Sue McDonald (@SusanMa23391449) asked the provider: “I have held Premium Bonds for 55 years and have never won – someone told me that old ones drop out of the system after a time and become obsolete. Is this true?”
The provider was quick to reply to say this is not the case. NS&I said in response: “Absolutely not, there is no method of numbers dropping out and being obsolete.”
The longtime saver may be disappointed with her bad luck as each £1 Bond has an equal chance of winning a prize in the monthly prize draw.
However, the Bonds holder will have a better chance of winning in the August draw as the prize fund rate is increasing from 3.7 percent to four percent.
The odds of winning are going up from 24,000 to one to 22,000 to one, with an extra £30million in prizes to be added to the winnings from August.
A person can also increase their chance of winning by buying more Bonds. An individual can hold up to £50,000 in Bonds in total.
However, the reality is people with Premium Bonds are entered into the monthly prize draw rather than getting a conventional interest rate, so a saver may go many months or even years without winning anything.
The unlucky saver may be encouraged to know people have recently taken home big winnings for Bonds they have held for a long time.
One of the winners in the June draw bagged £50,000 for a winning Bond they purchased over 50 years ago, in March 1972, and they previously had only £10 in Bonds.
Another winner in June won £100,000 for a winning Bond they bought almost 30 years ago, in July 1994.
The Premium Bonds scheme launched in 1956 and any Bond as far back as when the savings option began could win a cash prize each month.
A person can check if they have any unclaimed prizes from the most recent prize draw or further back to any draw, using the prize checker tool on the NS&I website.
Individual can also check for any prizes they have yet to collect using the app or with an Alex-enabled device.
People often choose to reinvest their winnings to increase their chances of winning in a future prize draw.
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