Press Release

HALF A MILLION UNCLAIMED PREMIUM BOND PRIZES IN UK - NATIONAL SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS LAUNCHES NEW SEARCH

23 August 2006

A major nationwide search has been launched by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) to track down the winners of 514,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth £30 million in total. This is the largest amount ever left unclaimed and includes one prize worth £25,000 and four worth £10,000.

The prizes become unclaimed because people fail to pass on new addresses when they move, they have forgotten they were bought for them when they were a child or executors are unaware the Bonds are held when someone dies. In the last year, 1 in 8 (12%)1 of people who moved home failed to tell all their financial providers their new address.

The prizes range from £25,000 down to £25 (for the top 15 unclaimed PB prizes - see notes to editors).

How do Premium Bond prizes become unclaimed?

Research from NS&I shows that people can easily lose track of their savings and investments over time for a number of different reasons.

Moving home

1 in 8 (12%1) people who moved home in the last year forgot to tell all their financial providers their new of address.

Multiple providers

It is easier to forget to tell a financial provider because the majority of Brits have savings and investments with a number of providers  - 62%1 have a relationship with up to three different providers, while 15% have between four and six different providers.

Childhood savings

·         A further 16%1 think they have lost touch with savings they had from childhood.

Estates

·                     Unless Executors are aware that the deceased has Premium Bonds, any prizes won in the year after death may remain unclaimed without the correct forwarding details.

NS&I gives away over one million tax-free* Premium Bond prizes each month, ranging from £50 to two £1 million jackpots. Currently, the monthly prize pot exceeds £75 million.

Sally Swait, Premium Bond manager at NS&I said: ""With the stress of moving home, it is all too easy to forget to tell everyone your new address including financial providers.  For Premium Bond holders, they could be literally walking away from their prizes if they have not kept NS&I updated.

"We are standing by to re-unite people with any unclaimed prizes and we urge anyone who believes they could have such a prize to check with the easiest way to use our website. There is no time limit on claiming the prizes."

How to check?

NS&I notifies customers of their winnings by writing to them directly. Therefore customers who have kept NS&I informed of their new address details are unlikely to have any unclaimed prizes.

There are two ways to check for an unclaimed prize:

·         Online at www.nsandi.com

The Premium Bond prize checker is on the home page of the NS&I website at www.nsandi.com - customers simply need to enter their Premium Bond holder's number into the search facility.

·         In writing to NS&I

Alternatively people can write to

Premium Bonds
National Savings and Investments
Blackpool
FY3 9ZW

No time limit

There is no time limit on claiming prizes and each unclaimed prize is held until the winner can be tracked down. The oldest unclaimed prize dates back to 1957.