I opened a savings account and won £50K in a prize draw - and the jackpot is tax free. Forget Premium Bonds, this is how YOU can win up to £100,000 - and earn interest

Guy Mayhew was on holiday in Tenerife with his husband and in-laws when a call came in to tell him he’d won £50,000 in a monthly savings prize draw.It was a huge result for Guy – a 33-year-old local government consultant from Kent – as he’d only signed up to the savings account less than a year prior.‘I’ve always taken quite a keen interest in managing my money and I’m always looking around and comparing different savings accounts. It’s been a fantastic return for me.‘I really like prize-based savings accounts, as I’m a higher-rate taxpayer and winnings are tax-free, but they’re becoming harder and harder to find,’ he says.Prize-based savings accounts, where savers are entered into a monthly prize draw for the chance to win cash prizes each month, are a popular way to hold cash.The nation’s favourite prize draw by far is Premium Bonds, offered by National Savings & Investments (NS&I), held by almost 23million Britons. Each bond costs £1 to buy and savers can invest between £25 and £50,000.Tax-free cash prizes are paid out to Premium Bond holders each month starting from £25, with two people winning £1million each month. From the draw in September, the rate on Premium Bonds rises to 4.35 pc – the third-highest rate it has offered in modern times.But the main downside to Premium Bonds is that they don’t pay interest, so there is a risk that your money is losing value if you don’t have much luck when it comes to winning. Guy Mayhew won £50,000 in a monthly savings draw. He had signed up to the prize-based account less than a year priorThere are Premium Bond alternatives for those looking to earn interest on their savings or who are beyond the £50,000 limit. However, they are fairly uncommon. Halifax dropped its Savers Prize Draw last year after 14 years, which gave away monthly prizes of £100, £1,000 or £100,000.Guy used to have an account with Halifax for the prize draw, but when he was notified about its upcoming closure he started looking around for an alternative and came across the Windfall Bond account offered by Family Building Society, and he opened an account in April 2025.The Windfall Bond account enters holders into a monthly free prize draw with a chance to win between £100 and £50,000. Unlike Premium Bonds, the account pays interest – of 2.75 pc a year – and like Premium Bonds, the winnings are tax-free.Each bond costs £10,000 to buy, with no upper limit on how many bonds can be bought, and bondholders have a one in 100 chance of winning a prize ranging from £100 to £50,000. Since January 2025, the Windfall Bond has paid out £2.379,700 across 2,819 prizes, says the Family Building Society.Guy initially held four bonds, worth £40,000, and has gradually increased his holding to £120,000 (12 bonds).He won £1,000 in the October 2025 prize draw and found out he’d won the £50,000 jackpot in February while sitting in the lobby of his hotel in Tenerife having a final drink before being picked up for the airport.That’s when a customer services representative from the Family Building Society called him on the phone to congratulate him. Guy had been expecting a work call so picked up straight away.‘The drink was upgraded to a bottle of fizz once I came off the phone,’ he adds. Guy found out he’d won the £50,000 jackpot in February while sitting in the lobby of his hotel in Tenerife having a final drink before being picked up for the airport‘I checked my bank account while waiting for the plane and saw the money had already been paid in, which is when it really sank in.’He is considering spending some of his winnings on a new car and plans to visit his brother in Australia next year. He also recently paid for 14 extended members of family to go to Jersey, covering plane tickets and hotel costs, at a total cost of about £7,000.‘I’ve always saved over the years, getting my first job at my local county council at age 16 for two days a week, which I carried on doing while at college and university.‘It put me in a really good position when I graduated and I bought my first home with my husband shortly after in 2011, and we’re still in it.‘I’m always thinking about maximising my savings as much as I can with the eventual aim to retire early.'I have Premium Bonds but the Windfall Bond appealed to me because the account pays interest and actually the odds of winning were higher but I must admit I never expected to win the jackpot,’ he says.The Windfall Bond savings account would not be suitable for everyone. It does not pay the highest interest rate on the market, at 2.75 pc.Interest is only paid once a year, rather than monthly, on July 31, so would not suit those who need monthly interest payments. While the cash prizes are tax-free, the interest is taxable. Guy with his husband Andrew. The pair still live in the house they bought together in 2011 You also have to give 35 days’ notice if you want to take money out the account, and partial withdrawals are not allowed. You have to withdraw a whole bond, so you cannot withdraw less than £10,000.Money with the building society is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to the tune of £120,000.Other options are the Chip Prize Savings Account, a tax-free monthly prize draw. Each entry costs £10 and your number of entries is based on your average balance over the calendar month.A total of £100,000 is given away to savers each month, with one customer winning £10,000.Skipton Building Society is launching a prize draw from October 1, with eight monthly prizes – 1x £25,000, 2x £10,000 and 5x £1,000.The Members Draw is open to over 18s with at least £100 in savings or a mortgage with £100 outstanding. Skipton says members will receive between one and five entries into each draw based on the length of their continuous membership.Kent Reliance, a specialist lending and savings provider, offers a monthly prize draw where one customer wins £1,000 each month, as long as they hold a minimum balance of £100.Lloyds Bank has also recently launched a new monthly prize draw where 50 customers are chosen at random every month to each win £2,026.To qualify, customers must have their salary paid into one of a Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland current account and it must be a minimum of £1,000 a month.The offer must be activated in the app or online each month to enter.