If you’re fortunate enough to win a prize, NS&I will notify you. Winners will receive an email with the exciting subject line “you’ve just won!”, or you can check your online account or use the prize checker app.
If you are one of the month’s two lucky jackpot winners, you’ll have a visit in person from Agent Million – an individual hired by NS&I to find and inform winners that they have won the £1m prize.
You can choose whether to reinvest your prize into more Premium Bonds (up to the £50,000 limit), or have the prize paid out. You can also withdraw your cash at any time.
Now read: How to check (and cash in) your Premium Bonds
Thousands of winners have never claimed their prizes, in some cases for decades.
The best way to keep track of your savings and winnings is to register, either online or over the phone.
Once registered, you can keep your details updated, turn paper documents on and off, and choose whether to have prizes paid directly to your bank account.
If someone dies with Premium Bonds in place, relatives and executors can make a claim for the invested money – but it’s not always easy to track it down.
NS&I recently started trying to trace the families of savers it suspects may have died. So far it has returned £2.54m to around 2,000 widows and widowers – around £1,250 per family.
However, having tried to contact more than one million savers and their families whose contact details are not up to date, 150,000 have responded so far. NS&I says it urges anyone with Premium Bonds to check it has their most recent contact details, including those with paper-based Bonds that they were perhaps given as a child. You can make this check at nsandi.com.
It’s the responsibility of the executor of a deceased person’s estate to let NS&I know about a death by completing a bereavement claims form, but Telegraph Money has also spoken to advisers who say bereaved families still face too many hurdles and can spend hours trying to claim their deceased relatives’ money.
Now read: How to track down and stake a claim to a Premium Bond inheritance
NS&I offers a range of products besides Premium Bonds that pay interest on your savings, and could be a more reliable way of making returns than hoping you’ll receive a prize.
Among its offerings are variable-rate products, such as its Direct Saver and Direct Isa, along with fixed-rate products such as Green Savings Bonds (a three-year fixed-rate account), Guaranteed Growth Bonds, and Guaranteed Income Bonds. These are all available online.
NS&I also offers Income Bonds and saving and Junior Isa accounts.
Now read: Forget Premium Bonds – these NS&I accounts offer higher returns
If you fancy trying your luck, Premium Bonds aren’t the only option out there – some other savings providers offer their own prize draws, many of which have better odds of winning.
However, we haven’t found any that come anywhere close to offering a £1m jackpot prize, and some of them have hoops you’ll have to jump through to qualify – such as signing up for a fixed-term account, or needing to save far more than the £25 required to qualify for Premium Bonds.
Now read: The savings lotteries offering an alternative to Premium Bonds (and better odds of winning)
This article is kept updated with the latest information.
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