MILLIONS of Premium Bond holders can expect a drop in payouts as the prize fund is slashed.
From next month, all prizes will have fewer winners – except for the lowest of £25 and the £1million jackpot.
The NS&I prize fund rate will be cut from 4.65 per cent to 4.4 per cent.
But the odds of winning something will remain the same at 21,000 to one for every £1 bond.
Harriet Cooke looks at other prize-linked accounts that might be a more tempting home for your cash.
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Premium Bonds - For those who dream big
HOW DOES IT WORK? Premium Bonds don’t offer interest but instead enter you into a monthly draw, with prizes up to £1million.
You can pay in between £25 and £50,000.
PRIZES: It varies each month, but there’s usually more than one million £25 prize-winners.
Next month, more than four million are expected to win amounts of £50, £100, £500, £1,000, £5,000, £10,000, £25,000, £50,000, £100,000 and £1million.
Two lucky people continue to take the top prize every month, but with the overall fund cut, 85 will likely take £100,000, compared to 91 in February.
INTEREST RATES: There is a “prize rate” of 4.4 per cent, which means for every £100 customers pay in, typically £4.40 a year is paid out.
But no one is guaranteed to win anything.
ODDS: In the February draw, the odds of a £1 Bond winning any prize were one in 21,000.
A £25 win was one in 118,244, and scooping the £1million jackpot was one in 61.37billion.
By contrast, the odds for the EuroMillions are one in 13 for any prize, and one in 140million for the jackpot.
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Credit Union draws - For those on tight budgets
HOW DOES IT WORK? The PrizeSaver draw is managed by the Association of British Credit Unions.
Credit unions are not-for-profit organisations offering local people or selected industries loans and savings accounts.
You can take part if you’re a member of a credit union linked to the scheme.
Find out more about participating unions at prizesaver.co.uk.
You only need £1 to enter the draw and balances are capped at £200.
Every pound saved amounts to one entry in the draw.
PRIZES: The jackpot is £5,000, with a further ten prizes of £50 and ten of £20.
INTEREST RATES: Varies for each union. Commsave Credit Union for postal workers paid a dividend of 1.75 per cent last year.
Others won’t pay any extra on the PrizeSaver balances.
ODDS: Varies depending on how many are entered each month, and how much you have saved.
Last month 1,924,818 tickets were entered into the draw.
Kent Reliance - For high rate chasers
HOW DOES IT WORK? This specialist bank runs a monthly prize draw for customers with savings of £100 or more, or with a mortgage account balance of £1,000 or more.
It is one entry per person.
If a joint account, then the first named account holder will be entered into the draw.
PRIZES: £1,000 for each monthly draw.
INTEREST RATES: Kent Reliance’s Easy Access Account currently pays 5.07 per cent, although you’ll need £1,000 to open it.
ODDS: Kent Reliance has not revealed the odds, but if you like the thrill of a potentially decent win – and if you have £1,000 to save – it’s not a bad place to stash your cash.
Chip prize saver - For people good with phones
HOW DOES IT WORK? Chip is a savings app that links to your bank account, looks at your spending and income and calculates what you can afford to save every few days.
Cash is automatically moved to a savings account.
There are various Chip savings accounts, including one that offers entries to a prize draw rather than interest.
Each month there are £75,000 worth of prizes.
Every £10 you deposit into the prize savings account gets you one entry into the prize draw, and you must have an average balance of £100 throughout the month.
PRIZES: A £10,000 top prize, plus 50 prizes of £100, 100 prizes of £50, 500 prizes of £25 and 4,250 prizes of £10.
INTEREST RATES: None.
ODDS: Varies per month, but in one recent draw a £10 entry had a one in 1,059 chance of winning a prize.
Halifax - For those with cash to stash
HOW DOES IT WORK? Every month, £550,000 worth of prizes are handed out to Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers who hold at least £5,000 in savings and have registered for the draw. Children’s accounts are not included.
PRIZES: Three prizes worth £100,000, 100 prizes of £1,000, and 1,500 worth £100.
INTEREST RATES: Halifax’s top-paying easy access account is the Reward Bonus Saver at 4.2 per cent, although this falls to 1.35 per cent if you make four or more withdrawals in a year.
After one year the account changes to an Instant Saver, which pays 1.45 per cent on balances up to £9,999.
The top prizes are life-changing but you will lose out on higher rates available elsewhere.
ODDS: Halifax won’t say how many people enter the draws, something that has irritated customers, who therefore can not calculate and compare the odds of winning.
