Forgotten about money ‘can be reclaimed’

People who with lost or forgotten about funds should reclaim them by contacting their bank, an industry expert has said.

According to Jason Clarke, a spokesperson for Halifax, many people have money they have forgotten about or lost the details of when changing address, for example.

However, he advised that reclaiming the money is simple, as account holders can simply notify their bank of any changes to their personal details and they will be giving help in locating their money.

“Loss happens for a lot of different reasons. The majority of these accounts will have very little money in them – the overwhelming majority will have small amounts, £100 or less,” said Mr Clarke.

He added that occasionally the amount of lost money is “sizeable”, but that there is usually a “good reason” for this such as the death of someone with no will, or in some cases no surviving family.

The British Bankers’ Association states that, this year, the number of people looking on their dormant account search pages has risen to around a quarter of a million, with 20,000 consumers having made claims.

Tags: surviving family, family, address, Forgotten, personal details, account holders, Banks and Institutions, money loss

One consumer may be down nearly £200,000

As the government and the banking industry step up the search for consumers that have lost track of their savings over the years one account has been discovered lying dormant for nearly two decades, and has a balance of over £180,000.

This spears to be the largest dormant account found so far. The banking industry and government are already launching a campaign to try and find the owners of lost accounts, where the money is lying dormant.

A dormant account is being classed as an account that has not been touched for fifteen years or longer. Some of the accounts that have been discovered by the banking industry date back to the 1800s, and in some cases the accounts may have clocked up a fair amount in interest over the years, even where the amount deposited was a relatively small one. The British Bankers’ Association is urging those wishing to make a claim on their lost account to contact them via the website or by phone.

The account that has been lying dormant with over £180,000 has been untouched since 1990. The owner last made a transaction in 1990, and the account has not been touched since that time. The government and the banking industry now want to take steps to help as many people as possible to trace their dormant and lost accounts. In many cases it is thought that the consumer may have lost track of the account after moving home and failing to advise the bank about their new address.

In the meantime the government is planning to use the money from these dormant accounts to fund a variety of youth and community projects in the UK, and a committee has been set up to oversee this. However, experts state that this will not affect the consumers’ right to claim at any time, and there is no time limit placed on when a claim must be made by.

Tom Smith
14th September 2007

Tags: accounts, holders, charity, bank, touched, address, balances, dormant, find