Two lucky Premium Bond holders have bagged the million pound jackpot in this month’s National Savings & Investments draw.
NS&I has now made a total of 500 people millionaires since it launched the jackpot prize in 1994.
The two winners are from Sefton in Merseyside and Sheffield.
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The 499th jackpot winning bond number was 109ZT548786 held by someone in Merseyside, who holds £30,000 in premium bonds. The winning bond number was purchased in May 2006.
The 500th winning bond number is 136RN551344 held by someone in Sheffield. The winner holds £3,000 in premium bonds and purchased the winning bond in February 2008.
This month’s prize draw will see more winners after NS&I bumped up the rate on premium bonds, up from 3% to 3.15%, meaning more prize winners.
The rate rise on premium bonds is the fourth increase NS&I has made in the last 12 months in a bid to lure savers into the government backed bank.
If you have premium bonds the rate actually means the number of prizes between £50,000 and £100,000 will increase.
February premium bonds prize winners
This month, a total of 4,983,114 prizes worth £313,936,100 will be paid out to premium bond holders. There were 119,594,702,144 Bond numbers eligible for the draw.
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 59 |
| £50,000 | 117 |
| £25,000 | 235 |
| £10,000 | 589 |
| £5,000 | 1,176 |
| £1,000 | 12,556 |
| £500 | 37,668 |
| £100 | 1,278,833 |
| £50 | 1,278,833 |
| £25 | 2,373,046 |
| Total: £313,936,100 | Total: £4,983,114 |
Source: NS&I
Unclaimed premium bond prizes
If you hold premium bonds and have changed your contact details, there is always a chance you have a prize with your name on it.
According to NS&I, in Sheffield alone - there are 12,244 unclaimed prizes worth £431,375. The largest unclaimed prize is £5,000 and is from the October 2011 draw.
The oldest unclaimed prize is from July 1968, worth £25.
In Sefton, there are 9,473 unclaimed prizes worth a total of £320,600, with £1,000 the highest amount unclaimed there by three bond holders. The draws were made between September 1994 and October 2020.
How to check if you’ve won a Premium Bond prize
You can see whether you’ve landed a prize in the February draw on Thursday 2 February.
Check by using the NS&I prize checker tool, or download NS&I’s prize checker app onto your smartphone.
You can even say your NS&I number to a device that has Amazon’s Alexa service, to see if your luck is in.
NS&I contacts all winners to let them know if they have won a prize - if you have registered online then you will be sent an email. Alternatively, you may be notified by a letter in the post.
This means it’s a good idea to make sure that NS&I has the correct contact details for you, to ensure you don’t miss out on a prize.
For details on the January draw, see our article on January’s premium bonds winners.
Premium Bonds vs savings accounts
This month the prize rate on Premium Bonds rose from 3% to 3.15%. The rate effectively outlines what sort of return you are likely to get if you have average luck.
However, this is not the same as an interest rate on a savings account. You are not guaranteed to earn a 3.15% return on your Premium Bond holdings - ultimately the return comes down to how lucky you are, so you could get a far better return, or you may never win a prize at all.
Those looking for a more reliable return on their cash may prefer to use a traditional savings account. If you want access to your money, then the top easy access accounts include Barclays Rainy Day Saver (5.12%), Santander Edge Saver (4%) or Chip Easy Access paying 3% interest.
There are also some high-paying regular saver accounts on the market, with First Direct still dishing out 7%.
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