SMALLER HOLDINGS CAN STRIKE IT RICH! 10 WINNERS OF THIS MONTH'S £100K AND £50K PREMIUM BOND PRIZES HAD LESS THAN £5K INVESTED

More Premium Bond holders with smaller amounts invested are scooping big returns after National Savings and Investments boosted the number of £100,000 and £50,000 prizes.

In total, 10 Premium Bond holders won £100,000 and £50,000 prizes this month with less than £5,000 invested.

This includes two winners who scooped £50,000 with a £100 holding - a return of 49,900 per cent. One of these winners from Devon bought the bond in November 1988. 

Meanwhile, another scooped a £100,000 prize with a holding of £500 - a return of 19,990 per cent. The winning bond was bought in April 2005.

The 10 winners all hold below the average £5,250 investment level people hold in the bonds.  

More than 5million prizes worth over £333million will be paid out to May's winners. There were more than 121billion Bond numbers eligible for the draw.

The biggest monthly prizes on offer now include two £1million prizes, 63 prizes worth £100,000 and 123 worth £50,000.

Other notable winners included a person from Gloucestershire, who won £10,000 from a £10 total holding that was purchased in July 1985 - a return of 99,900 per cent.

Meanwhile a winner from Hereford won a £50,000 prize with a total holding of £7,000 - with the winning bond bought in December 1963.

Premium Bonds holders can check to see if they have won a prize in May's prize draw by using the This is Money Premium Bonds winning numbers checker.

The 10 winners who won £50k or £100k with less than £5k in May
Prize Value Winning Bond number Value of Holding Area Purchase date
£50,000 143LG241610 £100 Oxfordshire Sep-08
£50,000 20SS166578 £100 Devon Nov-88
£100,000 68YM007355 £500 Overseas Apr-05
£100,000 352MX067263 £1,300 Leicester Feb-19
£100,000 375PX156861 £1,600 Hertfordshire Nov-19
£100,000 438FX694946 £2,500 Lincolnshire Feb-21
£100,000 32MG885652 £2,700 Coventry Jul-01
£50,000 521SK581310 £3,000 Barnet Dec-22
£100,000 442MB170252 £3,500 East Sussex Feb-21
£50,000 511JS175264 £5,000 Surrey Aug-22
May's winners: The longest wait for a prize
Prize Value Winning Bond number Total value of Holding Area Date of Purchase
£50,000 4WP081420 £7,000 Hereford and Worcester Dec-63
£10,000 21WL457437 £40,200 Coventry Sep-83
£10,000 20KZ622429 £10 South Gloucestershire Jul-85
£10,000 17SB761976 £16,076 Outer London Nov-86
£10,000 9DW078207 £50,000 Edinburgh May-88
£50,000 20SS166578 £100 Devon Nov-88
£10,000 22DB433369 £20,581 Derbyshire Mar-89

Premium Bonds remain the nation's most popular savings product with roughly 21million people holding them.

NS&I decided to up the prize fund rate to 3.3 per cent in March - the highest rate in more than 14 years.

At its current rate of 3.3 per cent, the odds of each £1 Bond winning a prize are 24,000 to 1.

Last month, we revealed how the odds of winning the £1million jackpot have become longer - but scooping £100,000 and £50,000 prizes has become far shorter.

If you hold the maximum £50,000 holding for example, the odds of winning £100,000 for example have fallen from 1 in 392,733 to 1 in 38,855.

And while savings rates are rising across the board, we warned at the weekend that it is wise for savers to buy Premium Bonds towards the end of the month, rather than the end - find out why.  

2023-05-02T12:16:54Z dg43tfdfdgfd