Now credit unions offer chance to win £5,000 a month

CREDIT union customers across the country are being given the chance to win while they save with the trial of a new savings scheme.

The PrizeSaver accounts give savers the chance to win up to £5,000 a month in a national draw. To take part they must save at least £1 a month into the account.

For every pound saved, the account holder will receive an entry into the prize draw (up to a maximum of 200 entries). Fifteen credit unions are taking part initially with more due to come on board.

Credit unions are member owned co-operatives which share profits with members through interest or dividends. The PrizeSaver initiative – backed by the Treasury – is designed to boost financial inclusion.

As well as the national top prize of £5,000, a further 20 smaller prizes of £20 will also be handed out each month. The first prize draws will take place in midDecember.

The new account is similar to a long-established Save to Win scheme run by American credit unions. The trial will run until the end of March 2021 but will be extended if successful.

The account is not the only way to win while you save.

Savers have the chance of bagging bigger prizes through popular National Savings Premiums Bonds.

But the odds of winning any prize (ranging from £25 to £1 million each month) are slim – one in 24,500.

The chance of taking home one of the £2 million jackpots are one in 831million – if you hold the maximum £50,000. With average luck (and a £50,000 holding) you may win prizes equivalent to 1.4 per cent a year. The minimum investment is £25. Family Building Society offers a Windfall Bond that pays interest at the Bank of England base rate (currently 0.75 per cent) as well as giving you the chance to win a cash prize each month of up to £50,000.

There are also ten prizes of £1,000 and two of £10,000. The bond requires a fixed deposit of £10,000 and interest is paid annually.

Savers with Halifax each month have the chance of winning either £100, or £1,000 or, for a lucky three savers, £100,000. You need to have held £5,000 or more in total across qualifying accounts – these exclude children’s accounts – for a calendar month to be entered into the following month’s prize draw.

The bank also runs a periodic mortgage prize draw for recent borrowers – with the latest drawn last week. Three borrowers who registered for the draw will be given the life changing news in the next few days that their home loan will be paid off (up to a maximum £300,000).

A further 100 customers will receive £1,000 cash prizes.