Premium Bonds holders can sometimes receive a surprise prize payout linked to a draw that happened long before, after National Savings and Investments (NS&I) reallocates prizes from winners who turn out to be ineligible.
Phil Maciver, a 70 year old former coastguard from Aberdeenshire, discovered this after waking up on April 21, 2021 to find NS&I had put £50 in his bank account. Maciver has held Premium Bonds for 50 years, with the full £50,000 invested, and checks his winnings every month.
He said an email arrived from NS&I saying he had won a prize, and he checked his account to find £50 had already been paid in. He said he had never had that happen before and had simply received £50 out of the blue.
NS&I said around 350 prizes each month are found to be ineligible. When that happens, the prize is reallocated to a different winner, which can make it look like a random, unexplained payment.
What are Premium Bonds?
Premium Bonds holders enter a monthly prize draw instead of earning interest, with the chance to win between £25 and £1 million. Winning numbers are generated by a random-number generator called Ernie, and each £1 Bond has its own odds of winning. Winners are typically announced at the start of the month, with money paid into accounts by the seventh.
Maciver said he did not know whether he was more shocked to have randomly won £50 or disappointed it was not a million, adding that it is something that is never discussed because it is so rare.
He said he found answers about reallocated prizes through a Facebook post, in which he wrote that NS&I had put £50 into his bank and he could not fathom it out.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Maciver said it is easy to miss these wins because many people do not track how much they win each month. He said the money just goes into the bank and people forget about it.
He estimated that about 99 percent of Premium Bonds holders would not realize they had received a reallocated prize unless a substantial amount of money came in. He compared it to a tax rebate that half of people do not notice, calling it the dark side of Premium Bonds, or the good side, really.
There are approximately 22.7 million people in the UK who hold Premium Bonds, making it the country's most popular personal savings product managed by NS&I.
Why does a winner become ineligible?
Someone can become an ineligible prizewinner if they have died and NS&I is unaware, or if they have exceeded the £50,000 holding limit. That limit can be exceeded when two accounts merge, such as when Bonds bought for a child by a relative are combined with Bonds the same person later buys as an adult.
In these cases, the original prize is cancelled. Because additional numbers are always drawn to cover such situations, the prize is then reallocated to the new winner.
What if the prize was already cashed in?
NS&I said that when an original prize is cancelled, it is likely it has not yet been cashed in. But if it has, NS&I said it would carry out a payment recall to recover the funds, asking the recipient's bank to contact the customer and request permission for the money to be returned. A new bond number is then selected to receive the prize.
A former Bond holder who has already cashed in their Bonds could still be eligible for a "move up" prize if their original Bonds were next in line at the time of the draw. NS&I said it uses the most recent contact details held at the time the Bonds were cashed in to reach the new winner. Current Premium Bonds holders can similarly win a reallocated prize linked to Bonds they previously held but have since cashed in.
An NS&I spokesperson said that every so often, a Premium Bonds holder, or a previous holder who has since cashed in their Bonds, receives an unexpected prize win notification. The spokesperson said this happens because NS&I has found that the original prize winner's Bonds were not eligible, so the prize is reallocated to the next Premium Bonds number drawn at the time, with additional numbers always drawn to allow for this.
How rare is it?
The spokesperson said around 350 prizes a month are found to be ineligible for various reasons, meaning NS&I can pass prizes on to the next person in line, creating unexpected excitement. The spokesperson said letters are sent out explaining the unexpected win, and prizes are then paid directly into the new winner's Premium Bonds holding, into their nominated bank account, or sent as a cheque.
