Chip’s £500k Prize Savings Account: is it worth it?

You could win up to £250k tax-free.

Savings and investing app Chip offers a few savings accounts, and it’s relaunched its alternative to Premium Bonds. Could you win big? Here’s how it works and my analysis.

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What is the Chip Prize Savings Account?

Chip has a pretty decent history when it comes to savings accounts. Though the best rates are now reserved for new customers via introductory 12-month boosts, you can save in both traditional easy access accounts and easy access ISAs.

The Prize Savings Account is different as you the chance to win a prize rather than earn interest. This means there’s no guarantee of a return on your savings, but there is a chance of winning more.

The good news is there’s no tax due on any winnings you might get. That might appeal to those who have gone over their personal savings allowance and see interest gained cut by tax payments.

What can you win?

In December 2025, the total prize fund will increase to £500,000 – it’s largest ever size. That’s a massive change since the first draw in autumn 2022, when there were just 250 extra prizes of £10.

The prizes change each month, but for December 2025, the following are up for grabs:

• 1 grand prize of £250,000
• 100 prizes of £100 each
• 5,000 prizes of £10 each
• 20,000 prizes of £5 each

The massive grand prize is a big step up from the usual £10,000 prize. The November draw is offering

• 1 grand prize of £10,000
• 250 prizes of £10

Each entry into the draw (more on this below) can win a prize, so you could could win more than once per draw.. But of course you could also win nothing at all.

How the Prize Saver Account works

There’s no charge to enter the Chip Prize Savings Account draw. You need to have an average balance of at least £100 saved in the account across the calendar month. The most you can save is £85,000

For every £10 (on average) you have saved you get an entry into the next prize draw. So a £100 average balance would mean 10 entries.

Extra entries for December 2025

Chip has also announced there are extra ways to add entries for the large December draw. These include

• Entries in November will be carried over
• 100 entries if you refer a friend to Chip
• Invest £10 for 100 extra entries
• Look out for ‘mystery codes’

How the winners are chosen

The draw is monthly, but it’s not right at the start of the month. It’ll take place within a week, so by the 7 of each month at the latest.

It’s all random, and how many entries you have won’t impact your chances of winning a prize, though obviously the more entries you have the more likely it is you’ll win something simply because you have more entries.

The average balance for the account at 11:59pm on the last day of the month dictates how many entries you’ll have in the draw. So for December’s draw, the winners will be revealed in the first week of January 2026.

Claiming your prizes

If you’re lucky enough to win, you’ll be notified by email. The money will be paid into your Prize Savings Account within seven working days of the draw. If you win a grand prize you’ll need to confirm this with Chip before they make the payment.

It’s worth noting that the prize won’t be covered by the FSCS protection and it won’t count towards entries in future draws.

Can you hack the Chip Prize Saver?

If you didn’t want to keep your cash in the account all month, but still get entries, then you could add the cash on the last day of the month and leave it there for just 24 hours. Remember though this still needs to average £100 over the month.

For a 30 day month that means you need at least £3,000 for one day. This would get you 10 entries. Each additional £300 will get you another entry.

For comparison, £3,000 earning 5% in a savings account for one day would generate 41p in interest. Putting £50,000 in that same savings account would earn you £6.85.

Chip Prize Saver Account vs Premium Bonds

Chip are obviously going for the Premium Bond customer, and claim the odds of winning are 3.5% better with the Prize Saver Account. However a Chip prize rate isn’t published.

The big difference is Premium Bonds offer more prizes and higher prizes, up to £1 million. Though there’s a higher £250,000 prize in Chip’s December draw, there’s only one prize at this level.

Similarly, the lowest prize, which are the most numerous with both draws, is just £5 with Chip, compared to £25 with Premium Bonds.

So in all likelihood, if you do win a prize for an entry, it’ll be a smaller prize with Chip. And of course, that’s if you win anything at all. Indeed, having just a few entries drastically reduces your chance of winning. With both draws there’s a good chance you’ll get nothing at all.

However, Chip claims that it offers lower balances a greater chance of winning. A calculator in Chip’s site says a £10,000 Prize Saver balance is the same as a £35,000 one in Premium Bonds. This is based on September’s results though, which had a different make up of prizes.

The Chip account does allow you to deposit more, at £85,000 compared to the Premium Bond limit of £50,000.

How it compares to other savings accounts

Alternatively you could put your cash in a normal savings account or ISA instead. Since you’ll be paid interest on these, you’re guaranteed a return. I’d love to compare your chances to the best buy instant access accounts, but Chip doesn’t publish a prize rate.

For interest paying accounts, at the time of writing, you can up to 6% on easy access via the Santander Edge account, though the balance is limited at £4,000. With the full amount saved you’ll earn £20 a month.

Or you can get 4.5% on large amounts via Ulster Bank. with £40,000 saved you’ll earn £150 a month

I’d imagine that it’s unlikely you’ll get those returns with Chip, but as with Premium Bonds, you may be the lucky one and win big.

How to get the Chip Prize Saver Account

First up, you need to have an account with Chip. This is app-only and quick to set up. As long as you don’t opt for the Chip X membership tier, it won’t cost you anything.

The money in a Prize Saver Account itself is actually with ClearBank – but that won’t make any difference to you as you open and manage it via the Chip app. Of course, if you have more than £85,000 with ClearBank across a number of different providers, you will be over your FSCS protection limit.

You’ll have to agree to the terms and conditions. Once it’s set up, you’re good to start moving money into it. This is via a connected current account. You can add money via auto-saves, but this will cost you money so is best avoided.

You do need to be over 18 and a UK resident to open the account.

Conclusion: is it a good place for your savings?

With the Prize Saver Draw you might win money at al. Despite a large increase in how many prizes available, if you do win it’ll likely be just a fiver.

Instead, I think it’s better to get the highest possible rate you can elsewhere – here’s our list of the top paying accounts. These will give guaranteed money paid on your savings every month.

However, it’s worth remembering that prizes are tax-free. If you’re going over your Personal Savings and ISA allowances, or are an additional rate tax payer, then a win here could be better than the savings rate after tax elsewhere.

Really it comes down to whether you think Chip will pay out more than Premium Bonds.