Millions Premium bond holder Sitting on cash prizes up to £ 100,000, which they are yet to claim, have shown new data.
There are more than £ 100 million awards to be unclaimed, the latest figures of national savings and investment (NS & I) show the threshold for the first time.
In all regions of the UK, there are 2,598,139 unclaimed awards, from the lowest amount of £ 25 to eleven £ 100,000 jackpot.
Area with The highest number of unclaimed awards South East, is £ 14,996,600 with a huge 389,713. However, it is London that holds the highest value at the unclaimed awards, with £ 15,338,425 partitions between 386,616 awards.
Premium bond Is an investment product run by the government -owned NS & I. Every month, millions of saves are entered into an award draw to win tax-free cash. award From £ 25 to £ 1 million, it is built in every draw with two millionaires.
Now 24 million people are participating in this scheme, with more than £ 127bn banks. in Saving Do not earn interest with regular Edge Accounts, but a random digital prize is placed against the picker called ‘Erney’ – electronic random number indicator equipment.
The main reason for unpaid awards is that one in about ten is still paid by a check, which are sent to the address given by the account holder. While the most chosen option is a direct bank transfer, it still meant about 600,000 checks in July.
According to NS&I, the awards are considered unclaimed after 18 months, and it can be claimed how long they were won. Because of this, the number of unclaimed prizes has gradually deposited for years.
Savings bank states that most of the unclaimed prizes have been won by account holders who have not registered their details, or have gone without updating them.
Premium bond account holders can use NS & I online award checker or award checker app, to find out if they have an unclaimed award.
A spokesperson said for NS&I: “NS & I have paid more than 99 percent of all premium bonds awards to our winners since 1957. The amount of unclaimed prizes currently is just 0.28 percent of the total £ 37 billion of £ 37 billion awarded by Erni in nearly seven decades.”
“We want to reunite people with their awards, so it is a time reminder that even for small holdings held for many years, it is worth entering your details with NS & I.”