NS&I Premium Bond winnings: new warrant design (rant)

BACS might be suitable for making regular payments, but for many people a Premium Bond win is a once in a lifetime event. I was given some Premium Bonds for my 1st birthday, and I'm now well into my 50's and have never had a win. How would they know what bank account details to use if my number did come up?

Chris

I wasn't suggesting BACS should be compulsory, just offered as an option. If you've got a £30k holding, then there's a chance you'll get a few prizes (esp as they went in for "more prizes of £25 is better to share around"), then that's more envelopes, postage, paper, cheques (warrants) to go through the system, trips to the bank (or wherever). Not to mention the chance of a cheque getting lost or falling into the wrong hands.

But none of this seems to make any headway with NS&I...

Oh, and how would you know which address they are sending any prizes too: have you checked they have your right address 50 years on?

I agree with all these points; and have made them myself to NS&I and their Treasury masters in the past. (I used to be involved in the use "payable orders" by another dept. and knew how horrendous were the Post Office charges for encashing them.) In their annual report for 2006* NS&I said

"As part of our commitment to sustainable business practice, we are:

. reducing paper consumption by:

- switching from paper-based transactions to direct channels

- moving from paper warrants to BACS"

Good job we didn't hold our breaths.

• formatting link

On 05/11/10 18:04, Allan wrote: ....

Near enough a 36% chance of one prize a month, 22% of two (29% none). With £60k (for a couple) there's only an 8% chance of winning nothing in a month, so BACS would be a definite winner. But I suspect the costs at their end mount when payments bounce. What irritates me is that each month /every/ warrant comes in a separate envelope, all clearly identifiable as ernie winnings.

Anyone know how they pay the £1million - I'm dying to find out for myself :-)

In message , Mike Scott wrote

I agree, if they want post that contains premium bond winnings stolen they have made it very easy.

In message , Mike Scott writes

Clear the kitchen table and put a clean tablecloth on it.

I like it. Looking forward even more to my turn :-) :-)

Oooerr. For some reason TB posted a blank reply. Never mind. I'll look forward to my visit :-) :-)

But, I do see that page quotes odds at variance with those on the NS&I web site - thisismoney says 36000:1, NS&I say 24000:1.

Indeed - I've changed my address more times than my bank account.

Oh yes.... havent looked at the premium bond part of the website for ages. 1 in 24000 is wrong... someone should be able to have em up for false representation!

The other problem with warrants... unlike cheques... is that you have to remember to sign them!... but thats typical NS&I I supect doing anything to deliberately catch the unwary. Latest example is encashment of guaranteed growth bond issue 38 which had at least 3 boxes to fill into say you wanted the dosh and then finally in very small print I couldn't read at the bottom of the form it said to enclose the bond certificate! Its no wonder that at the last count good ole NS&I had £3bn in surplus assets.

I must say I'm inclined to disbelieve that. However, I've emailed ns&i, quoting thisismoney, to see what they reckon. 48 hours to reply, they say.

The return rate we're getting has seemed consistent with 24000:1 though

- I think I'd notice a 50% error in the calculations. We shall see; maybe!

Further to that, I've heard from NS&I - very speedy service!!

Who say "The correct upto date information on the NS&I Premium Bonds, can only be found on our website

Information found on associated links may be out of date.

I can confirm the current odds are 24,000 - 1 which has been effective since 1st April 2009.

Previous to this date they were 36,000 - 1."

Panic over :-)

The premium bonds I've bought in 2010 haven't been doing very well. I was going to post that they haven't won a prize at all but I've just been to check and I've won 25 in the November draw, just haven't received it yet.

Less than a 1 in 20 chance that I wouldn't have won a prize with the bonds I've bought in 2010 before the November draw. Fortunately, the ones I bought in 2009 have compensated - in June my "interest rate" was over 3.5% although it's now declined to just over the expected 1.5% (7 prizes, would expect 6.5 prizes)

Tim.

Phew....

To be fair, I had a couple of £25 warants from May that I hadn't got around to paying in to my bank.

As soon as the 3 months validity was up, they sent me application forms (in separate envelopes, of course!) to apply for the warrants to be re-issued.

Very honest (and efficient) of them....and frankly a great surprise. But then NS&I do consist of Blackpool, Durham and Glasgow? I remember writing to NS&I when my father died to ask if he had any investments... they said they could find no record...but it transpired he had £16k of savings certs. This was though in 1995 and I guess they were (maybe are) lost without a holders number.