Over £620,000 of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in Devon
NS&I is undertaking a nationwide search to help track down the winners of over 898,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, worth over £44 million in total.
Premium Bond prizes may go unclaimed as a result of NS&I not being informed of changes to your personal circumstances, such as a change in contact details or if Premium Bonds were bought for you as a child and you have subsequently lost track of them. It is important therefore, to keep NS&I up to date if anything changes.
Over a third of the UK population have invested over £45 billion in Premium Bonds, and every eligible Bond is entered into the monthly prize draw. Investors forgo interest to have the chance to win tax-free prizes. Premium Bonds holders can reduce the chances of their prizes becoming unclaimed by managing their Premium Bonds online or opting to have any prizes paid directly into their bank accounts by BACS, with notification of the win by email. To sign up holders should visit: http://www.nsandi.com/register-our-online-service
In Devon, there are over 13,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth over £620,000. There is a man from in the region who is still due to receive £1,000 after failing to claim his prize in a previous draw. He has £30 invested in Premium Bonds and the prize was won in October 2007.
There is no time limit for claiming prizes and each unclaimed prize is held until the rightful winner can be tracked down. The oldest unclaimed prize dates back to February 1965 where a female in the region has a prize to the sum of £25 waiting to be claimed.
Jill Waters, NS&I’s Operations Manager, said: “It is likely that the winner of the £1,000 prize is unaware or he has forgotten that he has Premium Bonds – the lucky winner has just £30 invested. Prizes often become unclaimed as a result of people moving house, or forgetting that Bonds have been bought for them as a child, or executors are unaware the Bonds are held when someone dies.
“By opting to manage your Premium Bonds online you could reduce the risk of missing out on prizes as they can be paid directly into your bank account.”
Ways to check if you have a prize owing to you:
Online at nsandi.com
The Premium Bonds prize checker is on the home page of the NS&I website at nsandi.com – customers simply need to enter their Premium Bond holder’s number into the search facility.
In writing to NS&I
Alternatively people can write to NS&I, quoting their name and address, any former names and addresses, date of birth and, if known, their Premium Bond holder’s number.
Premium Bonds
National Savings and Investments
Glasgow
G58 1SB
Pictured are both the Top 5 highest unclaimed prizes in Devon and the Top 5 oldest unclaimed prizes in Devon.
