Savings Account or Premium Bonds?

This isn’t meant to derail the thread, but my daughter has a small number (hundreds not thousands) of PBs that she wants to cash in. I have the certificate here, it’s never left my house, but PB say they have no knowledge of her bonds. She hasn’t cashed them in and we are just stuck with what seems a worthless certificate. Has anyone else had any problem tried to encase them?

encash.

We both invested in premium bonds two years ago. Both the maximum amount but have since cashed in 1/4. Between the two of us we have always won something every month. The least £25 and the most £225.

NS&I publish the winners (not their names ! bu5 how much they've won and area they live in + much they hold.

All big wins go to those with holding large amounts but there's the odd exception . This month there's someone holding £4,000 that won £10,000.?

www.nsandi.com/prize-checker/winners

Georgesgran . Has your daughter written herself to NS&I?

They found a record of an old one I had bought me 40 years ago. I had to give them all the change of details: surname and address. I do hope they can find her PBs. Good luck.

www.nsandi.com/contact-us#write-to-us

I love it when you see someone with a small holding win one of the larger prizes.

If you can find her holder’s number that would help.

You can set up an online account with NS&I which shows all your PBS going back to 1959. I’ve got some on their bought for me by relatives in the 1970s.

One advantage of keeping it in cash ISAs rather than moving to premium bonds, is that you would keep the option open of transferring the cash ISA into a stocks & shares ISA if you wanted to go down that route in the future, then all the dividend income would be tax free. (Although currently you can get up to £2000 of dividend income tax free outside a stocks & shares ISA.

Georgesgran That is really weird for them to have lost your bonds. When I log into my online account it shows my £1 bond from the late 1950s along with my 1990s bonds. The bonds are linked to your holder number and should all appear. I'm sure it will get sorted as they must have a record of those bonds somewhere and if you have the certificate then that is proof.

Go for a stocks and shares ISA, the interest rates are better. I have a Fidelity one which has done well for me over the past few years but take advice from an IFA before investing.

DH has worked out that we win about the same amount on PBs as we get on our other savings.
We have a Chase account that pays 1.5% like Shandy
There are only a few people that benefit from cash ISAs nowadays.....I agree with others and always consult Martin Lewis before doing anything financial.

We both have the maximum amount in PBs and are happy with them. We win most months and the money is safe and easily accessible.

We are in our eighties and since we turned seventy plus we only have our money in joint accounts. For that reason only we don’t have more than a thousand in premium bonds an have finished with Isa’s as they are only available as individual accounts. When one of us is left alone it is so much simpler if things are in joint accounts as you only need a death certificate.

Thanks for all these views and suggestions. I'm a nervous investor having lost money in the past, so I'm sticking to something safe in my old age!

Another for PBs. I have money in various useless investment/savings accounts including with the NS&I most earning less than 1% but the best return is from the PBs where I hold slightly less than the max. Any wins are reinvested immediately. It’s my ‘emergency’ fund ?

NS&I also have Green Bonds, but the downside is you have to tie the money in for three years.

Reading all your comments has made me feel really poor! But I’m healthy and happy so I can’t complain.

I have the maximum holding of PBs and always win at least £25 a month.

Sorry if someone has already mentioned but with PBs you can get your money out fairly quickly if something comes up another plus

l do not buy lottery tickets so it my way of hoping to hit a jackpot without losing my stake. l do have the full allowance and l am still waiting for a phone call. My mil has won several largish wins with only £10,000. l have had one £1 bond since 1956 and sadly that was not productive either - but ever the optimist!

I put £50 a month into my PB's but am yet to win anything.... always optimistic though.

My late husband had the maximum amount of Premium Bonds and he once won £50,000!!! When he died, I was allowed to leave them invested for 12 months, during which time they won a total of £625 in prizes, a good return I thought. At the end of 12 months, I had to cash them in, so I reinvested in my name. So far, my return has been in the region of 2.5 - 3% per year, better than any other investment rate and each month the thrill of checking the results and the chance of winning big!

Thoroughly agree. I've held PBs for years and the annual return, even at £25 or so each time, is always (slightly) higher than the savings interest rate. Because it is the luck of the draw, every PB supposedly has a chance of winning big. Obviously the more you have the greater the chance, but if you look at the monthly results some people do win with small holdings.

Thanks for the info - we tried to encash them 6 years ago. Silly me thought that the local PO might help, but apparently they’d stopped doing anything with PBs a long time ago.

The PBs were a gift from my DF, definitely never cashed in, so I’ll draft up a letter for her to sign and take it from there.

Managed Stocks and Shares ISAs have averaged 8 or 9%pa over the last few years, as a medium term investment they are easily the best option. You do have to invest for 5yrs plus but they can be cashed if you really need to. Savings accounts don’t 3C en keep up with inflation