Family Building Society launches Windfall Bond with £50,000 jackpot

The Family Building Society has launched a Windfall Bond to give savers a chance to win up to £50,000 each month.

Each bond is worth £10,000. There will be 10,000 bonds available.

You'll qualify for the draw the second month after your account opens. For example, if you buy your bond in October, your first draw would be in December.

The Surrey-based building society, which launched in July, is part of the National Counties Building Society.

Windfall Bond vs Premium Bond

How does this newcomer compare with the much-loved Premium Bond?

Premium Bonds are among Britain's favourite savings products, with around 21 million holders in the UK.

First off, the basics. You need to hold at least £100 in a Premium Bond (or £50 for monthly standing orders) to a maximum value of £40,000, which will increase to £50,000 next year.

The Family Building Society has a 0.5% interest rate as well as the chance to win prizes whereas there's no interest with Premium Bonds. NS&I claims that the average Premium Bonds payout is a 1.35% proportion of total investments in prizes, but this is widely disputed.

Prizes in the Windfall Bonds are fewer and lower than Premium Bonds. Every month you can win one of 10 £1,000 prizes, one of two £10,000 prizes or a £50,000 grand prize. By contrast, there are 1.9 million cash prizes between £25 and £1 million with Premium Bonds.

You've got plenty of options when it comes to buying Premium Bonds. You can buy them through NS&I, the Post Office, over the phone, by post or through a regular standing order.

To apply for the Windfall Bond you just need to apply through the Family Building Society website.

Both bonds are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which will protect your savings of up to £85,000. Just be aware that money held in the Windfall Bond is held by National Counties Building Society and the FSCS protection only covers up to £85,000 across one institution and its subsidaries.

As far as closing your account is concerned, you can close it with 35 days' notice with the Family Building Society. Just note that partial withdrawals aren't allowed.

You don't need to give any notice to NS&I before you cash in your Premium Bond investment.

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Which is more likely to win you money?

I bet the question you're dying to ask has something to do with probability.

For the Windfall Bond, each qualifying bond (£10,000) is allocated one of 10,000 unique tickets in the monthly draw, and 13 lucky tickets are drawn each month. That makes 156 winning tickets over 12 months of draws. So the chances of winning are pegged at 64 to one.

Though the grand prize is considerably larger on the Premium Bonds, the chances of winning it are considerably smaller: 24.7 billion to one, to be precise.

It's difficult to tell how good the Windfall Bond is as it's so new to the market. Premium Bonds are a fun and safe way to invest, but if you're in it to win big, don't get your hopes up too high.

Would you invest in the Windfall Bond? Tell us in the Comments below.

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