Premium Bonds provider NS&I has issued advice about the process for a customer to unlock their account so they can buy more Bonds.
Twitter user @helenmildenhall contacted the group on the social media site as she wanted to buy more Bonds and was waiting for her account to be unlocked.
She said in a tweet on July 11: “I set up old Premium Bonds in an online account but can’t buy new ones. I called about that recently and was told I need to send you ID to unlock that capability.
“I posted it to you on June 30. How long should it take to process that and unlock my account?”
All Premium Bonds, no matter how old, are entered into the monthly prize draw, with each £1 Bond having an equal chance of winning a prize.
The provider said in response: “It’s usually around 10 working days, so you should be hearing from us very soon.”
The NS&I website states if a person has come across some old Premium Bonds, they can write to NS&I to request for them to be added to their online account.
People with Premium Bonds are entered into a monthly prize draw rather than getting an interest rate as with a conventional savings account.
Each prize draw has two £1million prizes and other large cash prizes of £50,000 and £10,000.
A person purchasing Bonds has to buy at least £25 in Bonds. People often reinvest their winnings by buying more Bonds, to increase their chances of winning again. An individual can have up to £50,000 in Bonds.
The prize prize fund rate is increasing from the August draw from the current 3.6 percent to four percent, with the odds of winning to go up from 22,000 to one to 24,000 to one.
An extra 460,000 prizes are to be added to the pot. Dax Harkins, NS&I’s chief executive, said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to improve the odds to the best they have been in almost 15 years, with more prizes, more excitement and more life changing wins for savers up and down the country.
“These changes will benefit millions of NS&I’s savers who have money in Premium Bonds, Direct Saver and Income Bonds.”
Customers can check if they have any unclaimed prizes from previous draws using the prize checker tool on the NS&I website.
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