September’s NS&I Premium Bond prize winners have been revealed, with prizes ranging from £25 to £1m – but how much did you win?
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has handed out 643 million prizes worth £27bn since the first draw in 1957. In September alone, ERNIE handed out 5,782,602 prizes worth £470,559,225.
Two lucky bondholders become millionaires every month, but thousands of other customers receive prizes from £25.
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We explain how to check if you’ve won this month and whether now is a good time to buy Premium Bonds.
Did you win in September’s NS&I Premium Bonds draw?
You can check if you won – as well as any prizes on offer on any given month, any winnings you may have had over the past six months, and any unclaimed prizes you might have – on the NS&I app, available on Android or iOS, and the official prize checker page on the NS&I website.
You’ll need your bond number, so make sure you have it ready.
You can also set up your Amazon Alexa smart speaker to let you know. Just activate the prize checker skill on the Alexa app and enter your NS&I number. After that, Alexa will keep you up to date.
How will NS&I prizes be paid to me?
Prizes will be paid into bank accounts or reinvested into premium bonds, as this is far quicker and safer than waiting for a cheque in the post.
You can set up automatic payments on the NS&I website.
Should you buy Premium Bonds?
NS&I has been hiking the rates on its products lately as it tries to keep up with the rates on the best savings accounts.
The savings provider hiked its Premium Bond prize fund rate to a 24-year high in August, meaning the odds of winning will improve from 22,000 to 1 to 21,000 to 1.
Additionally the minimum investment of £25 makes Premium Bonds an easy way to start saving.
But it’s worth remembering that you won’t earn any money on your investment. If you’d like to earn a return, NS&I has boosted the rate on its one-year fixed bonds to 6.20%.
It also boosted the rate on its Green Savings Bonds to 5.7%.
The best savings accounts are offering rates of up to 7% too, so it’s always worth shopping around to make sure you’ve found the best home for your money.
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