The Lemon Fool

AleisterCrowley wrote: I wonder if there is any advantage in cashing them in and buying £18000 in one bond

No.

Well, there is a small advantage - it makes you feel like you are doing something

Mel

Results are up for September https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker


£25 only for me.

£50 for me. Someone I know frequently wins £500, sometimes more. I haven't had a decent win since I upped my stake to £50k.

Still nothing for me on an £18k holding.

Bouleversee wrote:£50 for me. Someone I know frequently wins £500, sometimes more.

"frequently"? How frequently?

Anyway... I have yet again this month not won £1m. (AFAIK)

Yep me neither.. another £25. Which was a lot of money in the old days, but would now just about buy a (smallish) round in the Clachan

Since March I've had 10 prizes of £25 on a maximum holding. I think I generally get around 1% - last year had a £500 prize!

My wife and I upped our holdings to the maximum recently. We get £75 - £100 per month in prizes between us, which is about what we should expect.

Never had a prize higher than £25.

Scott.

Does anyone else get a bit annoyed that they announce the "major" prizes a day earlier than the low prizes, but the only way to check if you've won is to scroll through 19 pages on the web site?

In this day and age it's a bit primitive, one would have thought NS&I would have some expertise in applying computer power to a number-matching task

The mobile app is useless in this respect too, it does nothing until the day the low prizes are announced.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:Does anyone else get a bit annoyed that they announce the "major" prizes a day earlier than the low prizes, but the only way to check if you've won is to scroll through 19 pages on the web site? ...

I'm unsure when they release the "major" prizes but do recall it was as you say. When I posted that the September results were up, that was when I looked on 3 September just before midnight on the Monday. Presumably the "major" prizes were announced earlier that day. I don't anticipate a large prize so am not really worried about any delay. If one comes I'd be delighted.

My email alert headed "Good news from ERNIE about your NS&I Premium Bonds" has yet to arrive but I use that if I've forgotten to look at https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker or on here.

Am I right in thinking that they contact you directly if you have won one of the big prizes? On that assumption, if I haven't had a phone call or someone ringing the doorbell on the first day (or if I have bothered to comb through the big prizewinners listed in the Love Money email I would have received on the first day, I know it's only going to be peanuts and at some point enter my computer remembered details on their website and within seconds know how many peanuts I have won. As I never expect to win a biggie, I can't say that having to wait a day for the peanuts total causes me any angst. The poor return on my capital is, however, a slight cause for concern.

swill453 wrote:Does anyone else get a bit annoyed that they announce the "major" prizes a day earlier than the low prizes, but the only way to check if you've won is to scroll through 19 pages on the web site?

Why scroll through anything, just register for an NS&I account and see at a glance if you've won anything or not.

PinkDalek wrote:My email alert headed "Good news from ERNIE about your NS&I Premium Bonds" has yet to arrive

Do they still issue those? I haven't had one since January 2016 and I have had a few (not enough!) prizes since. There's not been any messages for prizes under "Your messages" since the Jan 2016 win either, although they are all listed in the Prize history in the Premium Bonds account page.

mc2fool wrote:

PinkDalek wrote:My email alert headed "Good news from ERNIE about your NS&I Premium Bonds" has yet to arrive

Do they still issue those? I haven't had one since January 2016 and I have had a few (not enough!) prizes since. There's not been any messages for prizes under "Your messages" since the Jan 2016 win either, although they are all listed in the Prize history in the Premium Bonds account page.

The last one I received was dated 3 August 2018. Maybe you have to re-register to receive them. I haven't logged in recently but, having done so, I see 4 unread Premium Bonds: congratulations! in Your messages.

mc2fool wrote:

swill453 wrote:Does anyone else get a bit annoyed that they announce the "major" prizes a day earlier than the low prizes, but the only way to check if you've won is to scroll through 19 pages on the web site?

Why scroll through anything, just register for an NS&I account and see at a glance if you've won anything or not.

Nope, no good I'm afraid. Maybe I didn't explain my issue very well.

The NS&I account, in common with the app and the prize checker on the web site, only tell you what you've won on the 2nd working day of the month when the lower prizes are announced.

There's no way of finding out on the first working day if you've won a major prize, short of scrolling through the list.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:Nope, no good I'm afraid. Maybe I didn't explain my issue very well.

The NS&I account, in common with the app and the prize checker on the web site, only tell you what you've won on the 2nd working day of the month when the lower prizes are announced.

There's no way of finding out on the first working day if you've won a major prize, short of scrolling through the list.

Scott.

I knew what you meant but my earlier post showed that individual winnings via https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker were available this Monday (presumably somewhat later than the larger "Prizes").

If it's only the major prizes you are worried about on the first day, it only takes seconds to run down the list looking at the counties and when you come across your county (a rare occasion in my case) check the holding value and if it corresponds with yours check against your holder's no. But I am pretty certain that if you have won £1m they will be in touch with you directly.

PinkDalek wrote:

swill453 wrote:Nope, no good I'm afraid. Maybe I didn't explain my issue very well.

The NS&I account, in common with the app and the prize checker on the web site, only tell you what you've won on the 2nd working day of the month when the lower prizes are announced.

There's no way of finding out on the first working day if you've won a major prize, short of scrolling through the list.

Scott.

I knew what you meant but my earlier post showed that individual winnings via https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker were available this Monday (presumably somewhat later than the larger "Prizes").

Near midnight, so almost 2nd working day.

Scott.

Bouleversee wrote:If it's only the major prizes you are worried about on the first day, it only takes seconds to run down the list looking at the counties and when you come across your county (a rare occasion in my case) check the holding value and if it corresponds with yours check against your holder's no.

A few tens of seconds, it's 19 pages. And then cross reference a possible match with bond number, not holder number, so much harder.

My point was that a computer could do it in nanoseconds.

Scott.

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/13635/pr ... newsletter

It took under a minute to whizz through this and find I hadn't won anything above and including £5k.

swill453 wrote:Near midnight, so almost 2nd working day.

Scott.

Yes, agreed and that's why I mentioned it when I found it, but is that faster than previously (rhetorical question probably)?