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Thousands of NS&I customers could be sitting on a fortune in Premium Bonds without knowing it, This is Money can reveal.
There are more than 2.4 million unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth £86m, exclusive NS&I data reveals.
At the beginning of each month, Premium Bonds customers eagerly await the prize draw in which the winners are announced. But as each draw includes millions of prizes, it is inevitable that some will go unclaimed.
There are six unclaimed prizes of £100,000 and ten of £50,000, adding up to a total of more than £1 million.
Unclaimed reward: There are six £100,000 winners who have yet to claim their prize
NS&I revealed that four of the six winners of the unclaimed £100,000 are in the UK, with two others overseas or in areas with unknown postcodes.
This is Money can reveal that one of the six unclaimed £100,000 prizes was drawn in January 2023.
This winner resides in the Gwent Valleys in Wales and had a holding of £40,525 at the time of the draw.
Another unclaimed prize of £100,000 was drawn in February 2022 and belongs to a winner residing in Gloucestershire. At the time of the draw, they had a stake of the maximum £50,000.
The two oldest unclaimed £100,000 prizes were drawn in February 2007. One of these winners, who lived abroad, had a wallet balance of just £6 at the time his winning bonus was drawn.
Meanwhile, there are 18 unclaimed prizes of £25,000, 50 unclaimed prizes of £10,000 and 107 unclaimed prizes of £5,000.
Most unclaimed prizes are located overseas or in areas with no known postcode.
NS&I data shows that 346,713 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes belong to winners living abroad, accounting for 14 per cent of all unclaimed prizes.
Next in line is the South East, with 318,807 unclaimed prizes worth £11,286,925.
| Raffle month | Balance in the draw | Reported area |
|---|---|---|
| February 2007 | £6 | A stranger |
| August 2014 | £14 | A stranger |
| February 2022 | £50,000 | Gloucestershire |
| January 2023 | £40,525 | Gwent Valleys |
| February 2007 | £25 | Hampshire and the Isle of Wight |
| September 2010 | £330 | Sefton |
| Source: National Savings & Investments |
How to check if you have won a Premium Bonus prize?
Premium Bond prize winners receive notification from NS&I if they have won a prize by text message, email or post.
It’s worth checking your old emails, letters and text messages in case you’ve missed any.
If you can’t find any notifications but would like other ways to check, you can do so by logging into the NS&I website. You’ll need your NS&I login details to do this.
You can also use the NS&I Premium Bond Reward Checker tool.
To do this, you will need your Premium Pass holder number (this is separate from your NS&I number).
NS&I also has a prize checking app. You can download it for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
To access your account, you will need your Premium Pass holder number or your NS&I number.
You can write to NS&I to check if you have won a prize.
You will need to include your name, address and NS&I number or Premium Voucher holder number.
Send letters to NS&I, Sunderland, SR43 2SB. NS&I will send you a list of any prizes you have won.
If you do not know your Premium Bond holder number or your NS&I number, you can call NS&I on 08085 007 007 or write to them and ask them to send you a replacement bond record.
You can also use the NS&I tracking service or the My Lost Account website, both of which can track the details of your Premium Voucher.
How to recover an unclaimed prize
You may not have heard about a prize because you moved house and NS&I were not notified, or because you changed some of your details and a letter got lost in the post.
But the good news is that there is no time limit on filing claims and NS&I will hold them until you contact them.
Once you discover you have an unclaimed prize, if you are registered for telephone and online services, you can call NS&I on 08085 007 007. You cannot claim it online.
If you are not registered for telephone and online services, you can write to NS&I. NS&I recommends that you provide as much information as possible, including the bondholder number, your name or any previous name, address or any previous address where a bond may have been registered, and a signature.
Prizes will be sent to your home address in the form of a money order, which is like a cheque. NS&I cannot send unclaimed prizes directly to your bank account.
An NS&I spokesperson said: ‘To prevent Premium Bond prizes going unclaimed, customers can receive them directly into their bank account.
‘Premium Bond customers should also ensure that they update us with any changes to their personal details, such as their name, address or bank details.’
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