How do I claim old Premium Bonds belonging to my late father? (2024)

When my 92-year-old mother died last September, as Executor of her will for the family, I informed NS&I of her death and received a payment amounting to £6 and was informed there were no outstanding prizes for the bonds.

However, I have in my possession bonds amounting to £9.

I have written, emailed and rang NS&I numerous times explaining the situation – but the answer I get is 'without the bond holder's signed authority' they cannot disclose any information. I am presuming the holder was probably my father who died in 1999.

I have explained this to them and given an address where he lived when the bonds were purchased. They sent me form NS&I 71 – changing your details? Do I put heaven as his new address?

All I really want to know, as an Executor, is there any unclaimed prizes for the bonds – which need to be dealt with or can I forget the £3 in bonds – as it has cost more in time and postage corresponding with them.

Ed Magnus of this is Money replies:With about one in three of the UK population - over 22million people - holding Premium Bonds, there will likely be many others facing a similar dilemma to yourself.

Britain's best loved savings product has been around since 1956 and although the chance of winning a prize is remote – at 34,500 to 1 for every £1 bond - with up to £1 million potentially at stake it is still worth the effort of checking.

NS&I pay out around three million prizes every month to Bond holders, whose numbers are generated at random.

Almost 3.2million prizes worth close to £92million were paid out in this month's draw with more than 110 billion bond numbers eligible.

Prizes range from £25 to £1 million and are all tax-free.

Although there are only two £1 million prizes on offer each month, there are also five £100,000 prizes, 11 £50,000 prizes and 20 prizes worth £25,000.

Premium Bonds are grouped under a single holder's number and this number has 10 or 9 digits, or 8 digits followed by a letter.

If you believe the Premium Bonds belong to your late father but have no holder number then you can use NS&I's Tracing Service.

This requires filling in a form, which will include as much information as possible, such as previous names and previous addresses.

However, a speedier approach enabling you to both trace and claim the individual bond numbers, without too much back and forth, would be to submit aBereavement claim form.

As an executor you can do this either online or by post withoutneeding to create an online account with NS&I.

Even without a holder number, the advice is to include as much information as possible, such as previous names and previous addresses so that NS&I can trace the account to your father.

NS&I may then request a Grant of Representation - also known as a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration - once it has received your completed form.

If opting to send everything by post, the executor must have a registrar's copy of the death certificate (original or a certified copy) and the Will (original of a copy certified by the solicitor).

You then will need to download, print out and complete the bereavement claims form and send to NS&I, Sunderland, SR43 2SB.

If they then require a copy of the death certificate, they will contact you.

Our reader's issue was solved in the process of investigating his query.

They received a letter from NS&I saying the bonds were registered to their father and that there were no outstanding prizes on the holdings.

However, NS&I came back with some further advice for those in a similar situation.

What happens when a Premium Bonds customer dies?

An NS&I spokesperson replies: If an NS&I customer dies, Premium Bonds cannot be inherited or transferred to another person.

However, they can remain in the monthly Premium Bonds draws for up to 12 months after the customer has died.

After the 12-month period has elapsed, the face value of the Premium Bonds will be repaid to the deceased customer's estate, along with any prizes they may win in this 12-month period.

To keep the Bonds in the draw, the person responsible for the deceased customer's finances should tell us this on the death claims form that they fill out.

Any Premium Bonds prizes won will be paid by prize cheque after that prize draw to the person entitled to the money - the estate's executor.

We will hold on to any outstanding prizes won until we have completed the death claim and then they will be issued.

Once the death claim has been completed, we will then send any future prizes won by cheque after each prize draw to the person entitled to the money.

We can't pay these prizes electronically or consolidate them and pay them at the end of the 12 months.

What would you advise our reader?

An NS&I spokesperson replies: In this case, if the Premium Bonds did belong to the reader's late father and he passed away in 1999, then they would have stopped being eligible for the draws at some point in the year 2000.

Provided that the reader is the beneficiary of their late father's estate, then they are entitled to the repayment of the holding, which they can claim using the above death claims form.

Additionally, and as outlined above, they would be entitled to the original holding, plus any prizes that may have been won up to 12 months after their late father passed away.

If the reader prefers to complete a paper form, they can call us on 08085 007 007 and a member of our team will be happy to arrange for one to be sent.

NS&I will let the person responsible for the estate know if a Grant of Representation (also known as a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration) is required once the completed Death Claims form has been received.

What if they have no holder number?

An NS&I spokesperson replies: If customers do not have a holder's number, this is not a problem when using the service if they will have the original Bond certificates.

In cases where customers do not have any paperwork and suspect they have Premium Bonds, they should provide NS&I with as much information as possible to enable any holding to be traced.