How do I cash in Premium Bonds?

Premium Bonds can be cashed in whenever you like. There is no notice period, no penalty and no loss of interest, because Premium Bonds do not pay interest in the first place: the rate funds a monthly prize draw instead¹. You can cash in all or part of your holding at any time, and any prizes you have already won are yours to keep².

You can do it online, by phone or by post¹. The money is paid to a UK bank account in your own name, and the bonds stop being entered into the draw once they are cashed in. Each £1 Bond you hold carries its own Bond number, and it is that number which goes into the monthly draw, so a smaller holding means fewer entries³.

The most you can hold is £50,000, and the minimum you can pay in is £25³. There is no minimum withdrawal. This page covers how each route works, how long things take, what happens with bonds held for a child, and what to do when the holder has died.

Cashing in Premium Bonds: no penalty and no notice period

Premium Bonds are unusual among savings products because there is nothing to lose by taking your money out. NS&I states plainly that you can cash in all or part of your Bonds at any time². There is no notice period to serve, no early access charge, and no interest forfeited, because no interest is paid. Instead, the rate that would otherwise be interest funds a monthly prize draw for tax-free prizes¹.

That structure is what makes the withdrawal terms so simple, and it is also what makes the product different from most of the alternatives. A fixed-rate bond typically locks the money away for a set term, and cashing in early can mean a penalty or a reduced rate. A notice account requires you to give the provider advance warning. Premium Bonds do neither.

The trade-off is on the return, not the access. Because prizes are drawn at random, the return is unpredictable: every month each £1 Bond is entered into a prize draw, with two £1 million jackpot winners and many more prizes from £25 upwards⁵. NS&I splits prizes into three value bands, higher, medium and lower, and allocates a percentage share of the monthly prize fund to each⁶. A holder can go months or years without a prize, and the headline prize rate is not a rate anyone is guaranteed to receive.

Prizes themselves are exempt from income tax and capital gains tax⁵, which is one reason the product holds its appeal for higher-rate taxpayers who have used up their ISA allowance. If you are weighing Premium Bonds against an interest-paying account, the comparison is between a certain but taxable return and an uncertain but tax-free one. Our guide to how Premium Bonds work sets out the draw mechanics in more detail, and Premium Bonds vs a savings account looks at the trade-offs side by side.

How to cash in: online, by phone or by post

NS&I offers three routes, and the one that suits you depends on how your account is set up and how much you need to do at once¹.

Online. If you are registered for the NS&I online service, you can log in to check your investments, pay money in and take it out, change your personal details, and choose to have any Premium Bonds prizes paid straight to your bank account⁷. NS&I also provides online forms for switching to or withdrawing money from certain accounts, and for managing how you receive your Premium Bonds prizes⁸. If you have not registered, you can set up access to your online account first⁸.

By phone. NS&I's phone service covers the same ground as the online service, including withdrawals¹. This is often the quickest route if you have a question about your holding at the same time, for example if you are not sure how many bonds you hold or whether an old Bond record is still live.

By post. You can write to NS&I to cash in bonds, and there are paper forms for some tasks. If you need to change your name, or you would rather use the post, you can download and send a paper form⁹. If you have come across some old Premium Bonds, you can write to NS&I to get them added to your online account⁴.

Whichever route you use, it helps to have your holder's number to hand. You can find it by logging in to the online service and checking your Premium Bonds account page, or by calling NS&I for a replacement Bond record⁴. The number has 10 or 9 digits, or 8 digits followed by a letter⁴. If you cannot find it, our page on finding your NS&I holder's number walks through the options.

Cashing in some bonds or all of them

You do not have to empty the account. NS&I states that you can cash in all or part of your Bonds at any time². Partial withdrawals are useful if you want to release some cash while keeping the rest of the holding in the monthly draw.

There is no minimum withdrawal for Premium Bonds, so you are not forced to take a set amount out. The £25 figure that appears in the product terms is a minimum for paying money in, not for taking it out: you buy Premium Bonds for £1 each, with a minimum purchase of £25, and you can invest from £25 up to the maximum holding of £50,000³. The £50,000 limit is a ceiling on what can be held, and any Bond numbers that go over it are not eligible to win prizes. If a number beyond the limit is drawn and a prize is paid in error, NS&I has the right to reclaim it¹.

If you hold other NS&I products alongside your Premium Bonds, the withdrawal rules differ. Income Bonds, for example, have no set investment term and can be cashed in at any time with no notice and no penalty, but the minimum you can take out is £500². Guaranteed Growth Bonds work differently again: when the term ends you decide whether to renew for the same length, renew for a different length, or cash the bond in¹⁰. Our guide to renewing an NS&I Bond when it matures covers those choices, and NS&I accounts and bonds explains how the different products compare.

When the money arrives and where it is paid

Withdrawals are paid to a UK bank account in your own name, so the account you nominate needs to be yours. If your bank details have changed, update them with NS&I before you cash in, otherwise the payment will not reach you.

Prize money follows slightly different rules from withdrawals, and it is worth knowing both. You can choose to have your prizes paid directly to your bank account, or into an NS&I Direct Saver, or reinvested into more Premium Bonds⁶. NS&I describes the same choice as going straight into your bank or building society account, or being reinvested into more Premium Bonds¹². If you choose either of the payment options, NS&I will let you know by text or email when you win⁶, and you can set those notifications to come by email or by text message¹².

On timing, NS&I says you will normally receive your prize money in your bank account by the 7th working day of the month¹. If you still cannot see the money in your account after the seventh working day of the month, call NS&I to make sure it has the right details⁶. Prize cheques, if you are paid that way, can take until the end of the month to arrive through the post⁶.

For withdrawals themselves, NS&I does not publish a single equivalent timescale in the same terms. The practical step is to check the account you nominated and contact NS&I if the money has not appeared. Our page on how long Premium Bonds withdrawals take goes into the timings in more detail.

Bonds held for a child or by someone who has died

Premium Bonds bought for a child stay in the child's name, and the way they are managed changes as the child grows up. A parent or guardian must give permission before a child's information is shared with NS&I¹³. Instructions made by a parent or guardian on behalf of children only remain in place until the child turns 16¹¹. At 18, the bonds remain in the individual's name and they continue to be entered into prize draws¹⁴. The child must not hold more than £50,000 of Premium Bonds in total, which matters if more than one adult is buying for the same child¹.

If you are buying for someone else's child, the gift reaches the child only after all identity checks are completed, and this can take up to four weeks, based on when the checks finish¹³. Our guide to buying Premium Bonds for a child covers the account setup in full.

When a holder dies, the position is different from most savings. Premium Bonds cannot be transferred to beneficiaries after the holder has died. Instead, they have to be cashed by the executor of the will⁵. One consumer guide puts it plainly: NS&I's Premium Bonds cannot be passed on, and must instead be cashed out by the executor, or left for another 12 months¹⁵. That means the bonds do not form part of what is handed on in the way an ordinary savings account balance would, and the executor needs to deal with them as part of administering the estate.

What happens to old Premium Bonds I have lost the paperwork for

Losing the paperwork does not lose the money. If you have come across some old Premium Bonds, you can write to NS&I to get them added to your online account⁴. Once they are on your account, they can be managed and cashed in like any other holding.

If you think a prize has gone unclaimed, NS&I publishes guidance on what to do if you believe you have won a Premium Bonds prize and how to claim it¹⁶. There is a separate process for tracing lost NS&I savings more generally, which is worth using if you are not sure whether a holding exists at all. Our guide to tracing lost NS&I savings and Premium Bonds sets out how that works.

Two practical points help here. First, the holder's number is the key to finding a holding, and NS&I can issue a replacement Bond record if you call⁴. Second, if your name has changed since the bonds were bought, you can download and send a paper form to update it⁹. Getting the name and address details right first makes the withdrawal itself straightforward.

Is there a minimum amount I can cash in?

No. There is no minimum withdrawal on Premium Bonds, and you can cash in all or part of your Bonds at any time². The limits that do exist sit on the paying-in side and on the size of the holding:

The £50,000 ceiling is worth watching if you hold Premium Bonds in more than one place, or if you are buying for a child alongside another adult. Any Bond numbers over the limit are not eligible to win prizes, and NS&I can reclaim a prize paid in error on a number beyond the limit¹. Our page on how much you can hold in Premium Bonds covers the limits in more detail.

Should I cash in Premium Bonds to move my savings elsewhere?

That is a question about what the money is for, and the facts can only take you so far. What is clear is the shape of the trade-off. Premium Bonds pay no interest: the rate funds a monthly prize draw, so the return is random rather than fixed, and prizes are tax-free¹. An interest-paying account pays a rate you can predict, but the interest is taxable once it exceeds your allowances.

It is also worth knowing what the alternatives do with access, because that is where Premium Bonds are unusually generous. Some products lock money away entirely: NS&I Green Savings Bonds, for example, are designed to be held for the whole term and cannot be cashed in before the end of it¹⁷. Others allow access but on terms: Income Bonds can be cashed in at any time with no notice and no penalty, but the minimum withdrawal is £500². Fixed-rate bonds generally pay a set rate for a set term, and cashing in early can cost you. Our guides to fixed-rate bonds and fixed-term savings and easy access savings accounts set out how those products behave.

If you are moving money because you need it for something specific, the withdrawal mechanics above are all you need. If you are moving it to earn more, the comparison is between a guaranteed rate and a prize draw, and no one can tell you in advance which will pay more. MoneyHelper publishes independent guidance on cash savings bonds if you want a neutral starting point.