Myself and my wife have a goodly number of bonds and it is rare that we don't win some thing each month but what we do is all small wins of £50 and £100 pounds are automaticly reinvested in more bonds, you can choose this option if you wish where as buying new bonds you must purchase a minimum of £100 worth, still waiting for the big one though

My ex boss is still waiting and he's got the max £30K worth. Regularly gets £50 and £100 though.

Some software might have changed December 2003:
I am looking in to a big change in the behaviour of bonds since December 2003/ January 2004.
At that time having about enough money to guarantee 1 hit a month, I stopped getting the usual prizes and I now measure a return of bellow 1% and well less than 1 in 60000 since Jan 2005!
It all happened all of a sudden when they seemed to be working on their software! That is what is so strange, but not impossible of course, just strange.

Hi
I had 12 or so bonds dating from the 1950s and bought £100 in the 70s. They didn't win a bean. I then invested heavily in bonds and began winning nearly every month at the rate of 1-6 hits ( mainly small prizes). The level of payout then changed and winnings dropped apprecialbly. It has improved slightly now. Blocks of bonds do stand more chance than singles in my experience.
The numbers do appear to go stale from time to time though and it is worth taking them out and buying a new batch periodically. I reckon the payout is as good if not better than a building society investment account.

quote:

Originally posted by corrupt_state:
I actually think that premium bonds are not an investment. You are much better off if you stick your money in an interest bearing account.

I have tracked my gains from a £30000 stake in Premium bonds and achived a net yield of 2.3% over 2 years. I would have earned 5% in an interest bearing account.

PBs are nothing more than a guilt-free form of gambling.

I've certainly done much better than that. At one stage a few years back I was taking around 8%;
that's why my fee for this posting is going to Great Ormond Street

quote:

Originally posted by bigmoney2:

quote:

Originally posted by ILrush:
I would never buy small amounts of premium bonds but save up and buy at least a couple of thousand at a time.

When I had quite a few a couple of years ago all my wins where on bonds bought in groups of £1000.
Incidently there was a thory at the time that if you remind ERNIE of your existance by buying some more you tend to get a win, it seemed to work as well!!

My other half has the same theory and it often seems to hold true

I've got £300 worth and haven't won a bean but I know a guy who's £6'000 worth and has won another £1'000 worth to add to them, owning a block of them seems to improve your chance's overall.

Buying bonds is like shoving money under your bed...it won't make any interest but it's "there" if you need it......and you might just win something in the meantime.

ive heard taht if you own a fair few of them eg like a couple of thousand you win more often

if you have 30Ks then you are likely to win at least a prize a month on average. Only thing is if its only 50 quid you would've been better in a high interest savings account.

Have had some for 3 months and have won £50, £50 and £100 so not complaining!!!

My dad wins on his PBs quite often, about every 4-6 months or so? Never a big prize, but if he put the same in a bank account he'd have earned less.

The more you have an in continuous blocks of numbers of say 5000 bonds in a block the more likely you are to win. I have found the rate of return similar to building society investments but with the benefit of being tax free

But you might win next month .....

I have the maximum holding of £30,000 and up to March of this year I won an average of £100 per month. Since then I have won nothing.
My mother holds £10,000 and used to win £50/£100 occasionally. Now she regularly wins including a disproportional number of £100 prizes.
This coincided with her agreeing to re-invest any winnings.
Common sense when you think of it.
If a business has the choice of paying out to people who can't invest any more; or to those who they know beforehand will be investig more;
which would they choose.
Just another conspiracy theory? Smells a bit strange to me.
Anyone with top holding should remove £5/10,000 and see if their winnings increase by signig up to reinvest prizes.

Hi Eorswine

I have had 30K of Pbonds too, for two years I won £100 each month, however, the same as you, it ALL stopped in March this year, I have won NOTHING at all.
Very strange dont you think?

Most certainly is.
Glad to know it is not only me.
Time to spread the word a bit methinks.
If NSI are up to no good the threat of all those with full holdings withdrawing £5000 each will negate any benefit they are gaining by paying prizes to known re-investors.
Indeed it would most certainly lead to negative
'NEW BUSINESS'- not what they would have hoped to achieve.

floony,
you win anything for August?
Me - £30,000 - nothing again (6 months now)
My mother - £10,000 - 2x£50 prizes (automatic re-investment)
I've had enough. I e-mailed them and got the usual guff about 'random' this and 'checked' that.
There is obviously something very wrong at ERNIE but no way of ascertaining that my numbers are still registered for each draw.
Will be cashing in some today and applying for automatic re-investment myself. See if that makes a difference.

all looking very suspicious.

as I said before, I had 30k worth and won every month for 2 years until march this year, then NOTHING!
6 months past and still nothing, so I contacted the PBond office last week to ask if my bonds were valid, they said yes, and guess what....this month I won.

Is it just me imagining suspicious things? seems odd.

quote:

Originally posted by floony:
all looking very suspicious.

as I said before, I had 30k worth and won every month for 2 years until march this year, then NOTHING!
6 months past and still nothing, so I contacted the PBond office last week to ask if my bonds were valid, they said yes, and guess what....this month I won.

Is it just me imagining suspicious things? seems odd.

it could be one of those strange coincidences and dont forget you can always trade them in and get your money back

Update on losing bonds:-
I cashed in the £30,000 and after a few months bought £20,000 and asked for any winnings to be re-invested.
Hey presto; first month in draw won 2 prizes- £1000 and £500. Unbelievable!
Won only £50 in second month, but hey, I think those 2 big wins in one month are even more suspicious and that something is definitely not quite right with ERNIE.

My grandmother purchased a £2 bond for me for my 18th birthday, (I will be 50 in November this year) I have never had anything back but simply cannot get rid of them as they are the last gift my grandmother gave to me.

aww that is unfortunate, but your time must be coming soon! Maybe it'll worth to buy another few just to up your stakes! Is it true they cost a min of £50????????

I haven't got any but a few of my friends have won a nice lump some every so often...

Good luck by the way!