Millions of people are missing out on a Premium Bonds win with prizes worth a total of £92 million unclaimed, it has been revealed.
The vast majority are £1,000 or less but as many as 20 people have failed to collect a potentially life-changing figure of £50,000 or more.
Most winners now get prizes paid automatically into their bank accounts; however this may not be the case with people who bought Premium Bonds many years ago in the pre digital banking era.
At the same time a number of prizes that were paid via cheque may have gone to the wrong address if people have moved home, while others may simply have forgotten to cash them.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I), which runs Premium Bonds, has provided a breakdown of unclaimed prizes by value and region to Moneysavingexpert.com.
The new figures reveal that a total of 2,498,733 prizes are unclaimed. An unclaimed prize is defined as one that hasn’t been claimed within 18 months of being won.
The list includes 27 wins of £25,000, 12 of £50,000 and eight of £100,000.
Prize value Number unclaimed Total value
£100,000 8 £800,000
£50,000 12 £600,000
£25,000 27 £675,000
£10,000 59 £590,000
£5,000 128 £640,000
£1,000 1,958 £1,958,000
£500 5,902 £2,951,000
£250 (a) 14 £3,500
£100 113,182 £11,318,200
£50 534,886 £26,744,300
£25 1,842,557 £46,063,925
Total 2,498,733 £92,343,925
(a) £250 prizes were issued from June 1957 to July 1974 and can no longer be won.
NS&I says it contacts every winner – this will be by text, email or post depending on the option you’ve selected – but sometimes prizes go unclaimed for reasons including letters getting lost in the post and contact details not being updated.
The option to have your prizes paid directly into your bank account was introduced in 2011, so you are more likely to have unclaimed prizes if you hold bonds from before this date.
South east England and London have the most unclaimed prizes at 374,925 and 374,350 respectively. Northern Ireland has the fewest at 29,535. And some 414,292 prizes are waiting to be claimed by people whose address is overseas or unknown.
Helen Knapman, news and investigations editor at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: « Moved home over the years and not let NS&I know? Bought Premium Bonds prior to 2011 and not linked them to your bank account? These are just some of the reasons why you should check now if you’re due any missing Premium Bond prize wins.
« There are nearly 2.5 million prizes worth a combined £92 million that haven’t been claimed for at least 18 months. That includes eight prizes worth £100,000 – an astonishing amount for someone to be missing out on.
« If you’ve got Premium Bonds, you should also consider changing your settings to ensure any prize wins are always paid directly into your bank account or reinvested to ensure you don’t lose out in future. »
How to check for prizes
Moneysavingexpert has provided details on how people can check if they have missed a win here.
You should have been notified of a prize win by text, email or post, so it’s worth checking through old emails, letters and texts just in case you’ve missed one.
If you can’t find any notification but want to check whether you have an unclaimed prize due, you can:
Log in (or register) for NS&I’s website. You’ll need your NS&I number, surname and account password.
Use NS&I’s Premium Bond prize checker tool on desktop. You’ll need your Premium Bondholder’s number to do so – this is separate from your NS&I number.
Use NS&I’s prize checker app. This is available for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. To access your account, you’ll need your Premium Bondholder’s number or your NS&I number.
Write to NS&I. You’ll need to include your name, address and NS&I number or Premium Bondholder’s number. Send letters to NS&I, Sunderland, SR43 2SB.
Don’t know your Bondholder’s number or account number? You can phone NS&I on 08085 007 007 or write to it and ask for a replacement bond record to be sent to you. You should give it as much detail as you can, for example, your full name, address, when and where you bought your Premium Bonds and how much they’re worth.
Alternatively, you can use NS&I’s tracing service or the My Lost Account website, both of which can track down your Premium Bond details for free. They ask you to fill in info about yourself, including your name, address, an estimate of how many Premium Bonds you hold and how long you’ve held them.
How to get your hands on an unclaimed prize
There’s no time limit to claims, so you can go back as far as you need to. Here’s how to get your hands on any unclaimed prizes:
If you’re registered for NS&I’s online and phone service… you can call 08085 007 007 to start your claim. You cannot claim online.
If you’re NOT registered for the online and phone service… you need to write to NS&I at NS&I, Sunderland, SR43 2SB. Give as much information as you can, including:
– Bondholder’s number
– Current name
– Any previous names
– Current address
– Any previous addresses where bonds may have been registered
– Signature
Prizes will then be sent to your home address as a warrant, which is like a cheque.
