Premium bonds crown two new millionaires for 2020

Two lucky winners have had a wonderful start to the new year by winning the top premium bonds prize of £1 million each in this month’s draw. Joining their celebrations will be a sizeable number of other premium bond winners who are heading into 2020 with other prizes from £100,000 to £25 – all free of both income and capital gains taxes!

The first £1 million winner lives in Hertfordshire and purchased their winning premium bond, 244DT242763, in April 2015. The second lucky winner resides in Cheshire East and holds the winning bond number of 278CW859665, having purchased their premium bond in August 2016.

Many congratulations to them both.

While not everyone can walk away with £1 million, the winners of the runners-up prizes probably won’t be crying into their champagne today. Six lucky individuals greet 2020 by becoming some £100,000 richer. These premium bond holders are spread across the UK, living in Preston, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Greater Manchester, South West Wales and West Sussex. The winning premium bond numbers for these six winners are: 174MF369445, 328JZ306858, 200JC974470, 337GP876536, 270PV360338 and 61DY638096 respectively.

It’s worth noting that two of the £100,000 prize winners both won with bonds valued at just £960 and £25. That’s quite a return on their initial investment!

12 premium bond holders can claim the not inconsiderable sum of £50,000, while a further 23 will be celebrating a handy windfall of £25,000. 59 people have won a welcome £10,000 each. A lucky few of these winners again won big with an investment of just £25.

Finally, 119 people will be starting January £5,000 better off and a massive 1,984 others claiming winnings of £1,000. Of note is the premium bond holder who won £5,000 on a £5 premium bond from August 1966 – hopefully, the win was worth the wait!

Lots of us dream of a windfall in the premium bonds monthly draw. However, NS&I is currently holding onto £63m of unclaimed premium bond prizes. Literally thousands of potentially life-altering prizes are gathering dust when they could be gathering interest in the unsuspecting winner’s bank account. Premium bond holders can check their numbers quickly and easily using NS&I’s free online Premium Bond Prize Checker, or download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Current holders of premium bonds can keep their details up to date online and even have cash prizes can be paid directly into their bank account. Visit nsandi.com/register to sign up now.

Savers who prefer the certainty of a regular return rather than the small chance of a win on the premium bonds should check out our whole of market comparison charts, showing for all kinds of savings accounts, fixed rate bonds, ISAs and more.

Savvy savers can stay up to date with the latest money and finance news, hot deals and the  best rates by subscribing to the free Weekend Moneyfacts and Savers Friend e-newsletters.