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It started with Rs40,000 standard prize bonds in June 2019 and discontinued prize bonds of Rs25,000, Rs15000 and Rs7500.
These bonds work like cash and are therefore used for tax evasion and other financial transactions that can’t be traced or documented. If you are one of those people who have won a prize on any of these bonds, you still have time to claim the prize money.
You have until September 30 to encash higher denomination prize bonds and December 31 for Rs7500 prize bonds. Even if you are in possession of lower denomination prize bonds that have won a draw, it is still helpful to know the process to save time and effort because the encashment is a bit complicated for those who have never claimed the prize money before.
This is how you can claim the amount for a winning prize bond:
What do you need?
1.Original prize bond or bonds and a copy of each. The Banking Services Corporation, a subsidiary of the central bank, usually accepts up to 50 prize bonds in a day from one applicant but due to the pandemic, it has reduced this number to 20. If you are lucky to visit them on a less-crowded day, they may accept more than 20.
2.You have to put two signatures on the back of the original prize bond and two on the back of each copy. The signature should match the one on your CNIC.
3.Note down your prize bonds’ series (the English letters) and serial number, date of issue, place of issue and draw number. You need this information for every single bond you want to encash.
4.Original CNIC and copies. The number of copies depends on the number of forms you submit. One CNIC copy per form is required and you may claim a maximum of 10 prize bonds in a single form.
5.Your bank account’s IBAN number is required (account number won’t work). It is printed on your cheque book. You also need to know the name of the branch where you have your nts .
The process
Visit the State Bank of Pakistan’s Banking Service Corporation office (carry a mask with you or you won’t be allowed inside). These offices are present in 15 Pakistani cities including two in Karachi.
It will be very helpful if you can download the application form, print it and fill it at home to save time and avoid any hassle (queues for example) at the bank. In case, you don’t, you can get the form the BSC office.
Just go to the information or help desk and collect the application form for claiming prize bond money. You need to tell the officer how many bonds you want to encash and what are their denominations. For example, if you have 10 bonds of Rs750, five bonds of Rs1500 and two bonds of Rs7500, he will give you three forms. That means you need three copies of your CNIC, one for each form.