Premium Bonds are a popular savings option for many – rather than earning interest on your cash, you’re entered into a monthly prize draw and given the chance to win between £25 and £1 million tax-free.
But Premium Bonds aren’t the only prize draw option on the market. A number of providers offer their own prize draw products which could be worth considering if you’re looking for a new way to save. Here’s our guide to how they work.
Halifax Savers Prize Draw
Halifax Savers Prize Draw launched back in 2011. Every month Halifax gives away:
3 prizes of £100,000
100 prizes of £1,000
1,500 prizes of £100
You need to be a Halifax customer to join, and you need to hold £5,000 or more for a whole calendar month in qualifying accounts to be entered into the draw. Your £5,000 can be split across more than one account. Qualifying accounts include all Halifax savings accounts and cash ISAs, apart from children’s accounts.
You can register to enter the draw through the Halifax app or through online or mobile banking, provided you’re aged 18 or over and live in England, Wales or Scotland. You can do this even if you don’t have £5,000 in your accounts yet – you’ll be entered as soon as you reach this target.
If you’re lucky enough to win, the money will be paid directly into your Halifax savings account – and this will be on top of any savings interest you’ve already earned.
Credit Union PrizeSaver
If you open a PrizeSaver account with your local credit union, you’ll automatically be entered into a monthly draw to win up to £5,000.
Each month there is:
1 prize of £5,000
10 prizes of £50
10 prizes of £20
Every £1 you hold in your account at the end of each month gives you one entry into the following month’s prize draw. You can have a maximum of 200 entries a month (equal to £200 in savings).
You can only hold one PrizeSaver account and keep in mind that not all credit unions offer PrizerSaver accounts.
Chip Prize Savings Account
With the Prize Savings Account from Chip, account holders have the chance to win a prize of up to £10,000, instead of earning interest on their savings.
The number of entries you get is decided by your average balance over the calendar month. Your average balance is calculated by your daily balance divided by the number of days in a month. The earlier you pay money into your account, the more entries you get.
Each month there’s a chance to win one prize of £10,000 and 7,750 prizes of £10.
Other than that, the account works like any other easy access account – you can deposit funds and withdraw your cash when you want to and your savings are protected up to £85,000 under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Bottom line
If you’re looking for a different, potentially more fun way to save, opening a prize draw savings account could be the way to go. If you’re lucky enough to win the jackpot, you could win several thousand pounds, which can work out to be a lot more than the amount of interest you would earn on a standard savings account.
But on the flipside, you need to consider the chances of actually winning this sum. After all, you might not win anything at all and, with the exception of the Halifax Savers Prize Draw, your savings won’t be earning interest either.
When considering your options, weigh up whether you’re happy to take this risk, or whether you’d prefer to have a guaranteed return on your cash deposits with a traditional savings account.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Rachel Wait is a freelance journalist and has been writing about personal finance for more than a decade, covering everything from insurance to mortgages. She has written for a range of personal finance websites and national newspapers, including The Observer, The Mail on Sunday, The Sun and the Evening Standard. Rachel is a keen baker in her spare time. See full bio
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