Luckiest NS&I Premium Bond holder has won nearly 300 prizes!

The luckiest Premium Bond holder has won over £1m across nearly 300 prizes, a Freedom of Information request has shown.

Every month Premium Bond holders are entered into a draw where they can win prizes ranging from £25 to £1m.

This lucky bond holder has won a total of £1,019,850 across 288 prizes and purchased their first bond in May 2002, the Daily Mail revealed.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

The winner has taken home the top £1m prize, as well as one £10,000 prize, one £1,000 prize, eight £100 prizes, 45 £50 prizes and 232 prizes worth £25.

Another bondholder holds the record for more wins, scoring 408 prizes. But they have only taken home £14,325 as their prizes were mostly made up of £25 wiNS.

Indeed, they’ve taken home 315 prizes worth £25, 18 prizes worth £100, 75 prizes worth £50 and two £500 prizes.

Are Premium Bonds worth it?

Premium Bonds are an extremely popular savings product – but they don’t necessarily offer the best rates.

To attract more savers NS&I has hiked its Premium Bond prize fund rate five times in one year, taking it to 3.3%.

That means there’s an extra £15m in prizes to be won each month, increasing the number of prizes worth £50 to £100,000.

NS&I also recently brought back its one-year fixed bonds and boosted the rates on its products to their highest levels in a decade.

What’s more, the government-backed bank could boost its rates further in the coming months after Jeremy Hunt set a new, higher fundraising target for NS&I in his Spring Budget.

But currently, there are better rates on offer. The best savings accounts offer returns of up to 7%.

Meanwhile, the best one-year fixed bonds offer interest rates of over 4% and easy access accounts are paying over 5%.

Providers have gotten more competitive as the Bank of England hikes rates. But savers looking to secure the best deals will have to act fast, as the best deals don’t stick around for long.