Premium Bonds Investment Cap Raised to £40,000

FUTURE PROOF: You can now own £40,000 Premium Bonds up from £30,000. The increase is one of the “support for savers” measures announced in this year’s Budget

Emma Wall 28 May, 2014 | 2:58PM
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Savers can now squirrel a further £10,000 from the tax man, as National Savings & Investments ups the lifetime limit on Premium Bonds.

As of today, you can own £40,000 of the tax-efficient savings products, up from £30,000. The increase is just one of the many “support for savers” measures announced in this year’s Budget by Chancellor George Osborne.

More than 20 million people are reported to own Premium Bonds, and every bond has a 24,000-to-one chance of winning a prize. NS&I hold a prize draw monthly, with at least one £1 million pay-out, around three pay-outs of £100,000 and up to two million £25 prizes. Nationwide, there are currently nearly 900,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth more than £40 million. There is no time limit for claiming prizes.

NS&I set the size of easy month’s total prize money by calculating one month’s interest rate of 1.3% on the total value of all eligible bonds, which works out at odds of 26,000 to 1. No income tax is payable on prizes. This compares to tax-efficient savings rates on variable ISAs of up to 2.5%, offered by Nationwide.

The Government uses National Savings & Investment to raise money domestically, as an alternative to gilts. Just as deposits in banks and building societies are backed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, NS&I is backed by the Treasury.

Unlike banks and building societies who chose their own deposit limit, NS&I is set an annual "net financing target" by the Treasury which governs how much money it raises each year from savers. This impacts whether it issues its extremely popular inflation-linked savings certificates.

In 2012, NS&I said that the Government’s financing target was too low to offer the product. This target is based on a balance of the interests of savers, the wider financial services industry and taxpayers.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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