Saver scoops £1m within six months

A SAVER from Gloucestershire has scooped the latest Premium Bonds £1m prize – just six months after buying the bond.

National Savings & Investments, which is backed by the Government, is protecting the identity of the monthly £1m prizewinner, but it has revealed that the saver held £30,000-worth of bonds, the maximum allowed and that the winning number was bought in July last year.

NS&I raised the threshold from £20,000 to £30,000 last May, sparking a boom in Premium Bond sales. The amount invested in 2003 is expected to exceed £7.5bn – nearly double sales in 2002. A total of £23bn is now invested in the bonds.

However, a general renaissance in the bonds was already underway with cautious investors keen to find a safer home for their money after the tumble in world stock markets in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

Each month 777,226 prizes are given away, ranging from £50 up to one £1m prize. The amount earned should average out to 2.15% tax-free a year, equivalent to 2.69% gross for a basic rate taxpayer. The best savings accounts on the market, however, pay up to 4.3% gross.

The Premium Bond rate will increase to 2.40% p.a. on 1 March.

This month‘s winning number was 60DV 527570.