The Premium Bonds winners for August have been announced - and one of the the £1million jackpot winners had just £1,001 invested.
The first seven-figure prize went to a woman from Devon with just £1,001 in Premium Bonds - making her one of the luckiest-ever winners.
Of the 464 Premium Bonds millionaires, just 12 won the £1million jackpot with a holding smaller than £1,001.
National Savings & Investments (NS&I), which runs Premium Bonds, said the second winner of £1million came from Wales.
The second jackpot winner had £10,051 in Premium Bonds. The lucky bond in question had been bought after a previous Premium Bonds prize win in March 2013.
The rest of the smaller August Premium bond prizes, ranging from £25 to £100,000, will be announced tomorrow.
Premium Bonds work like a lottery, where bonds are entered into a monthly draw. You don't earn interest, and it's total chance if you win anything at all.
But the bonds look particularly good at the moment because they pay an average prize rate of 1% a year, which is very competitive with savings rates low across the board.
There are around 107.75billion of the bonds, and an astonishing 21.4million of us own some.
Have you won big prizes on Premium Bonds? We'd love to hear from you! Email sam.barker@reachplc.com
NS&I retail director Jill Waters said: “We’re absolutely delighted for our two winners in Devon and Wales. The winner from Devon shows that, no matter how much you hold in Premium Bonds, you’re always in with a shot at winning the £1 million jackpot."
How to find out if you're a winner
Customers can use the nsandi.com prize checker tool and prize checker app to see if they have won.
If you have an Amazon Alexa, you can also ask it to tell you the latest winning numbers.
To see if you've won, you will need to enter your Premium Bonds holders’ number.
Those who have chosen to have prizes paid to their bank account, or have their prizes reinvested, will be informed whether they have won by email or text message.
From Spring 2021, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) started phasing out the use of Premium Bonds prize cheques.
Instead, Premium Bonds customers can arrange to have any prizes they win paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds up to the maximum limit of £50,000.
Premium Bonds are brought in blocks of £25.
NS&I revealed earlier this year how there are now more than £64million worth of prizes going unclaimed.
You can find out if any of your Premium Bonds are winners by downloading the prize checker app from the App Store or Google Play, or visit the prize checker at nsandi.com.
Customers manage their Bonds online at nsandi.com and by phone.
At the moment the odds of a bond winning each month are 24,500 to 1, and the vast majority of the prizes are for £25. That works out as a 1.4% prize fund rate.
Customers can choose to have their prizes paid straight into their bank account, or to have them automatically reinvested into new Premium Bonds.
