NS&I savings and investments are backed by HM Treasury, which means any money you invest is 100% safe. This might make NS&I an attractive option for savers with a nest egg larger than the amount backed up by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Maximum amount you can hold: £50,000. Age limit: Over 16 to buy them; under that age they may be held in the name of under-16s by parents or guardians. Anyone can now buy Premium Bonds for under-16s, then nominate the child's parent or guardian to hold them.
Can you lose money with Premium Bonds? No. NS&I is backed by the Treasury, rather than a bank, so 100% of your money is protected. Even if you're an unlucky customer and never win anything, the amount you put into Premium Bonds remains safe – although not necessarily in terms of the real value of the money.
As a saver, you won't receive any interest – but the prizes you win will be tax-free. You can invest a minimum of £100 in Premium Bonds and a maximum of £50,000 (this increased from £40,000 in 2015). It's worth bearing in mind that the odds of a £1 bond winning any amount in any month is one-in-30,000.
NS&I usually takes around eight days to process a 'cash in' form, and so it will take eight days plus the amount of time it takes to clear or get to you through the post. If you have filled out the form but have not received anything from NS&I in this time call them at 08085 007 007.
However, customers can withdraw money from their NS&I accounts by phoning 08085 007 007.” It's also possible to send NS&I withdrawal instructions by post, using a form on the bank's website.
In the Premium Bonds brochure it says that if a holder dies, their Premium Bonds become part of their estate. The Bonds can continue to take part in prize draws for 12 months following the date of death. Any future prizes won by warrant after each prize draw will then be sent to the person entitled to the money.
The interest you earn on most savings accounts is taxable, so it counts towards your Personal Savings Allowance. But the interest you earn on ISAs and other tax-free accounts isn't taxable, so it won't use up any of your Personal Savings Allowance.
You can have more than one account. You can save from £20 up to £1 million per person in total, across all your Investment Accounts. You can find out more on the National Savings and Investment (NS&I) website.
Reader's questions: "Can you transfer NS&I Premium Bonds to someone else without having to cash them in? You will need to cash in the bonds you want to give her and send the money to her, so that she can apply herself.
By post - To buy Premium Bonds by post, complete an application form and send it in with a cheque payable to National Savings & Investments. Print and complete an application form . Bank transfer or Standing Order - Existing customers can also buy by bank transfer and standing order.
To log in: If you have an NS&I account in your own name, log in using your details. If you don't have an NS&I account, simply enter details of one held by the donor (their holder's/account number), along with your own name and address. We'll then add the donor's accounts and investments to your online dashboard.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is to stop operating its accounts via the Post Office. No more Investment or Easy Access Savings accounts will be opened from 28 November, though Premium Bonds will still be available. In future all its savings accounts will be available only via the post, phone or online.
Are my old Premium Bonds still valid? Yes. As long as you haven't cashed your Bonds in, they're still valid and they're still being entered into our monthly prize draws.
It's easy to buy Premium Bonds, all you have to do is apply through the NS&I website. Alternatively, you can apply over the phone by calling 08085 007 007 or +44 1253 832007, but it's NS&I have asked people to call 'if they absolutely have to.
Customers can check the Premium Bonds results via the online prize checker at nsandi.com, the NS&I prize checker app, and the Premium Bonds Alexa skill. Alternatively, Customers will be notified of any prize win via email or text.
National Savings & Investments
The mobile applicationPremium bond checker is a utility app that allows you to check the results of NS&I premium bond draws for multiple accounts. The revamped software is available for the latest versions of Android, and will be landing in the iOS app store in the near future.
They should visit nsandi.com and use the secure log in. They should go to 'Your profile' and select 'Your prize options' and choose to have prizes paid directly to their bank account or to have prizes automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds.
For investments you're managing online or by phone, simply log in or call us for a valuation. You can also see the value of your investments on your homepage. If you have an Investment Guaranteed Growth Bond, you can only get a valuation online.
Cash in premium bonds online or by phoneThen, either call 08085 007 007 or go to the NS&I site and login to your online account. Once the process is completed, the value of the premium bonds you've cashed in will be transferred into the bank account that you nominated when you registered.
Please send your letter to: NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB. Prizes will then be sent to your home address as a warrant. Unfortunately, we can't send unclaimed prizes directly to your bank account. If your details have changed since you won the prize, please tell us your old and current details and sign your letter.
How do I check for unclaimed Premium Bond prizes?
- *If you know your Premium Bond holder's number, you can go to the prize checker section on the NS&I website or download the prize checker app.
- *If you don't know your Premium Bond holder's number, but have an old letter from NS&I, you'll find your NS&I number there.
Currently, some Premium Bond holders opt to have prizes paid in the form of a paper 'warrant', which is like a cheque – though customers can also choose to have prizes paid straight into their bank account, or reinvested to buy more Premium Bonds.
While the holders of winning Prize Bonds are usually notified directly whenever one of their entries has won a prize, few people remember to inform An Post about any change of address – meaning notifications are often sent to addresses where the holder will never get them.
If you only know your bond numbers, or have lost your documents, then the only way to find out if you have won a prize is to write to NS&I and request a bond record. This will show all the bonds you hold as well as your holder's number and your NS&I number.
