It’s estimated that over £20 billion lies unclaimed in the UK. With a little detective work, you can track down  lost money that could be yours

You might be wondering how so much money can go unclaimed. Pretty easy really

You set up a savings account with every intention of regularly depositing money into it. Very soon after, the enthusiasm dwindles and deposits stop- especially when you’re young. The account is forgotten, you move house a couple of times and the bank with your money takes a less than proactive approach to finding the rightful owner. With interest that initial savings could now be worth considerably more. Instead, the bank has it. Dormant  bank accounts like this account for over £5 billion in unclaimed money

But it’s not just bank accounts. Money can go unclaimed for many reasons, including:

– You leave a company a lose contact with a pension scheme
– Relatives set up savings plans you’re unaware of
– Dividends from shares are unclaimed
– You were paying a policy but lost the paperwork or forgot the company name
– Your partner or relative had a life insurance policy or pension you were unaware of

Bank Accounts, Building Society Accounts, National Savings & Premium Bonds

Billions of pounds are estimated to lie unclaimed in old current and savings accounts and in lost Premium Bonds. You can trace all three by filling in one form. You only need to use My Lost Account, a joint venture of UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and National Savings & Investments (NS&I)

To start reclaiming, use the link to start a search and then fill in some personal details and any info you have about the account you’re looking for. After that, it’s a waiting game – banks and building societies say they’ll respond within three months of the claim, while NS&I aims to respond within a month

If a bank/building society can’t agree on the validity of your claim, you have the right to appeal internally through the bank and then, if still unsuccessful, refer your complaint to the independent arbiter, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

It’s worth noting that if a bank or building society still thinks it has your current contact details, it may not have marked your account as lost, so you won’t be able to reclaim the money using My Lost Account. Instead, contact the company directly, or try Gretel (see below)

Once you’ve tracked down your Premium Bonds, and got your holder’s number or NS&I number, you can check if you’re owed one (or more) of the unclaimed prizes on the NS&I Premium Bonds prize checker or the NS&I prize checker app. There’s more than £79 million in unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, ranging from £25 to £100,000

If you have an unclaimed prize, and you’re registered for NS&I’s online and phone service, you can phone 08085 007 007 to start your claim.

Pensions

It’s estimated that a staggering £27 billion is currently sitting in lost pension plans! If you think you’ve got a lost pension somewhere in the ether, use the Pension  Tracing Service operated by the Department for Work and Pensions. It has access to over 200,000 occupational and personal schemes and is very easy to use. All you need to know is the name of your previous employer or pension scheme – although if you can give more information, it will improve your chances of  finding a current address for the scheme

What the tracing service can’t do is tell you if you actually have any  pension benefit with the particular scheme you’re looking for. It simply gives  you a contact address for the administrators of the scheme and then it’s up to  you to contact them directly

Shares and dividends

Tracing shares and dividends is more complex than finding lost bank accounts  or pensions, but it can be done. If you think you have shares in a company, but have lost your share  certificate, you can check by applying to the company registrars. They’ll search  their records and, for a fee, will supply you with a replacement  certificate

There are three main share registrars – Capita  Registrars, Computershare and Equiniti. You can find out which registrar  deals with the company you’re interested in by using the company profile search  on the London Stock Exchange’s  website. Alternatively, call the company in question

If you’ve got old share certificates in a company that you can no longer  track down, contact the registrars named on the certificate. Usually, they’ll be  able to trace the history of the company. They’ll also be able to search for any  unclaimed dividends that you may have missed. Failing that, try calling each of  the three big registrars

If you have any out-of-date dividend cheques, or you’ve lost any dividend  cheques, you can ask the registrar to replace them for you – there may be a fee  for this. The time limit for claiming back unclaimed dividends is usually 12  years. Computershare  also operates the government’s scheme for tracing lost gilts. If you think you  have a claim, write to Computershare  giving as much information as possible

Life insurance

Tracking down old life insurance policies when you don’t have any policy details can be quite tricky, as the life insurance industry doesn’t operate a  tracing service. The Association of British Insurers (ABI)  used to tecommend using the Unclaimed Assets  Register, but, sadly, that was shut down a year ago

Gretel

This free catch-all service launched in April 2022. Because Gretel is a relative newcomer, some big financial institutions are yet to sign up, so you may not get a match straightaway. But it will continue to search for lost accounts on your behalf, and will let you know if your details match a lost account with a company that joins in future

To start a search, just fill in your name, address and date of birth. Gretel will then do a ‘soft search’ on your credit report (don’t worry – this won’t affect your credit score and lenders can’t see it) to check your identity and match you with previous addresses where you may have accounts registered. You can also now use Gretel to search for lost assets on behalf of vulnerable or deceased loved ones

Gretel says it uses bank level security to keep your data safe, and won’t sell any of your data to third parties – it only uses it to try to reconnect you to any lost accounts

Good hunting!