Premium Bonds: NS&I explains how you can increase your chances of winning | Personal Finance | Finance
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Premium Bonds are a popular savings option as they give Britons the chance to potentially win up to £1million each month. With interest rates so low at present, many are turning to Premium Bonds as a chance to secure a life-altering sum of money. While Premium Bonds do not offer an interest rate to savers, the rate does go towards funding the prize draw each month.
At present, NS&I has set this rate at one percent, but this is variable depending on the wider economic position of the UK.
This matters so much as NS&I is a Government-backed savings institution, supported by the Treasury.
However, this can be beneficial as it means all funds deposited by NS&I are 100 percent secure, should the worst happen.
With the June 2021 results recently released for Premium Bonds, some will have woken up significantly richer.
READ MORE: ‘Why wait?’ Britons urged to take action on pension, ISA and money
NS&I was quick to explain the details, stating any jackpot winner could have a varied amount invested.
It even stated that one winner of the £1million only had £17 in Premium Bonds at the time.
But the key point to consider, it added, is that “the more Bonds you hold, the better your chances of winning.”
However, NS&I also took the opportunity to dispel what it called a “popular myth” regarding how winning chances work.
It is often suggested holding Premium Bonds in a sequence can increase a person’s chance of winning.
The savings company, though, has said this is, in fact, not true.
This is because the machine which is used to generate the numbers for the prize – ERNIE – does so at random.
These are then matched to the database of eligible Bonds in order to pick each month’s winners.
NS&I added: “Since no Bonds are actually entered into ERNIE, it doesn’t know anything about the Bonds themselves, such as whether the Bond number is part of a sequence of numbers or not.
“Holding them in sequence won’t make any difference.”
This month’s millionaires are two lucky women who bought their winning Bonds at vastly different times.
The first millionaire is from Leicester and purchased her winning Bond recently in July 2020.
The winning number was revealed to be 404XK887196.
The second millionaire, from Cleveland, had to wait slightly longer for her winnings, after purchasing the winning number in November 2008.
The Bond in question which secured her the top prize was 147TV114992.
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