‘Human nature’ for people to forget about money’

Many people routinely forget about old bank accounts or financial transactions, according to the Unclaimed Assets Register (UAR).

There is approximately £15.3 billion in the UK in unclaimed assets, according to the organisation.

Forgetting about old bank accounts, especially in the world of online banking, is “human nature”, said Paul Brine, a spokesperson for the UAR.

Ms Brine said: “There’s times in our lives when we’re more interested in our investments where they’re long term. If I leant you a fiver, I’d be interested in getting that back tomorrow.

“If I invested £200 in some shareholdings, I might be interested in them in two or three years time, to see how they’ve done … Your degrees of interest change.”

Currently, the number of people who have visited the British Bankers’ Association’s dormant account search page is approaching a quarter of a million.

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