Agent Million brings New Year joy to Kent and Wiltshire
The pair are the 377th and 378th lucky recipients of Premium Bonds’ top prize.
The man from Kent bought his winning Bond (number: 112TQ018654) in July 2006 and currently has £24,580 invested in Premium Bonds. He becomes the 17th Premium Bonds millionaire from the county, and this success marks the second consecutive month that Kent has landed one of the two top prizes. Kent is now the third most successful region for winning the Premium Bonds jackpot prize.
The Wiltshire winner has £25,103 invested in Premium Bonds, and her winning Bond (number: 001TA132848) was purchased in February 2002. It’s been three years since the last Premium Bonds jackpot winner in the region and the sixth overall.
Jill Waters, Retail Director at NS&I, said:
“It is great that two people in Kent and Wiltshire have been able to celebrate the New Year more than usual, with an unexpected surprise on New Year’s Day.
“We hope that many other winners will be equally delighted with their success this month, as we have paid out over 2.9 million prizes this month, the most in any single Premium Bond monthly draw to date.
“Our very own Agent Million hand delivers the good news in person, and while going to Kent will be a familiar journey, having last visited there last month, the visit to Wiltshire will be the first since April 2015."
In this month’s draw, over 2.9 million other tax-free prizes have been paid out. Customers can find out if they have been successful by downloading the prize checker app for free from the App Store or Google Play or using the prize checker on nsandi.com. The results will be published in full on Wednesday 3 January.
Bringing in the New Year with ERNIE
ERNIE – the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment that generates the winning numbers each month – produced over 28 million Premium Bonds prizes last year, and with the Premium Bond prize fund rate increasing to 1.40%, ERNIE will continue to spread joy to many millions more in 2018.
However, there are many Premium Bond holders who may have forgotten or be unaware that they have Premium Bonds, and may have previously won a prize that they don’t know about. In total, there are over 1.4 million unclaimed prizes worth more than £57.5 million.
In Kent, there are over 36,000 unclaimed prizes, totalling over £1.4 million and in Wiltshire, there are over 8,000 unclaimed prizes totalling over £330,000.
A prize worth £50,000 remains unclaimed in Kent. The prize was won in the November 2007 draw and was won by a female who has £128 invested in Premium Bonds. The Bond number is 3VT019901. There are also another 25 £1,000 prizes that remain unclaimed in the county. The oldest unclaimed prize in Kent was won by a man with the Bond number AN559184 in the April 1959 draw, and is worth £25.
The highest unclaimed prize in Wiltshire is worth £5,000, having been won in the October 2014 draw. The prize belongs to a woman with £1,505 invested in Premium Bonds and the Bond number is 185HX014948. Three other lucky Wiltshire residents who have a holding of £5 or less, each have an unclaimed prize of £1,000, while there are five residents in Kent who have scooped this value of prize with a holding of £10 or less.
Jill Waters added:
“At a time of giving and sharing, many people are receiving the gift of saving to help build for life events. Many people might have received Premium Bonds when they were children or at other times for Christmas, birthday or anniversary gifts and may have simply forgotten about them as the years have passed. We are trying to make people aware that from time to time things do go missing and that it might be a good time to check whether you have won any Premium Bond prizes that you didn’t previously know about. For example, Wiltshire has unclaimed prizes dating back to 1961, while Kent’s go back even further to 1959.
“Premium Bonds prizes often become unclaimed as a result of people moving house and not telling NS&I, or not keeping their details held with us up to date. We are urging Premium Bond holders to reduce the chance of their prizes becoming unclaimed in the future by registering on nsandi.com to have any prizes paid directly into their bank account (with notification by email). There is also no time limit for claiming Premium Bond prizes.”
To check whether they have any unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, customers can visit the NS&I website at www.nsandi.com, download the prize Checker app for free at the App Store on or Google Play or call NS&I’s Freephone number on 08085 007007 to see if they’re owed a prize.
Receiving your prizes directly to your bank account
By registering to receive prizes by BACS, Premium Bonds winners can have their future prizes paid direct to a nominated bank account, and update their personal details and information to minimise the risk of any future prizes going unclaimed.
Over 1.5 million Premium Bonds customers have now registered for this option, with over 600,000 signing up in 2017. To find out more, visit the NS&I website: https://www.nsandi.com/can-my-prizes-be-paid-straight-my-bank-account
January 2018 prize breakdown
In the January 2018 draw, a total of 2,964,409 prizes worth £84,732,650 will be paid out. There were 72,627,981,708 eligible Bonds for the draw.
Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE has drawn 389 million winning prizes, paying out more than £17.9 billion.
| Value of prizes | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 4 |
| £50,000 | 10 |
| £25,000 | 18 |
| £10,000 | 44 |
| £5,000 | 89 |
| £1,000 | 1,695 |
| £500 | 5,085 |
| £100 | 23,236 |
| £50 | 23,236 |
| £25 | 2,910,990 |
| Total prize fund value £84,732,650 |
Total number of prizes 2,964,409 |
Notes to Editors
- NS&I has a wealth of facts and figures (including regional) about Premium Bonds. If you require any further details, please contact the NS&I media team or tweet your question to @nsandi
- You can read more about Premium Bond prize winners at nsandi.com/winning-stories
- All Premium Bond prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
- NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to 25 million customers. All products offer 100% capital security, because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
- The annual Premium Bonds prize fund rate is currently 1.40% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning any prize are 24,500 to 1.
- Pictures of Premium Bonds, including the Premium Bonds app and ERNIE are available in high-resolution jpeg format from the NS&I media team.
- Customers can buy Premium Bonds online at nsandi.com and over the phone by calling 08085 007 007. This is a freephone number and calls to it from the UK are free from both landlines and mobiles. Calls may be recorded. Customers can also buy by post. Existing customers can also buy by bank transfer and standing order and each investment must be at least £50 for bank transfers and standing orders.
- When reporting total unclaimed assets held by NS&I (including accounts, Certificates, Bonds, unclaimed Premium Bond prizes and other products), NS&I defines unclaimed holdings as those with no customer contact for a period of 15 years or more.
- Further information on NS&I (National Savings and Investments), including press releases and product information, is available on the website at nsandi.com. Follow us on Twitter: @nsandi or join the conversation on Facebook: Premium Bonds made by ERNIE