Over 10,000 reclaim lost savings
Over 10,000 savers tracked down lost money from dormant or unused accounts this summer and another flood of reclaims are expected in the coming weeks.
The deluge of claims to the British Banking Association's reclaim service came between July and September after the Government published controversial proposed legislation in which it suggested seizing any savings assets untouched for 15 years or more to improve youth and community facilities.
As this legislation, called the Unclaimed Assets Bill, is set to feature in the Queen's speech next month, the BBA is expecting another wave of inquiries.
In the year to date, over 200,000 people have tried to retrieve their dormant accounts via its website, which sees the lion's share of reclaim queries, although savers can also contact their own bank, building society, the Building Societies Association or National Savings & Investments.
Almost half of these people contacted the BBA from July to September and, in the wake of the media attention that followed the Government's announcement, just over 9,500 customers succeeded in chasing down their cash during this period.
This represents a six-fold increase on the same time last year and over 2,000 successful claims more than all of 2006.
'We had stories of Gordon Brown stealing money in the press and on TV, which led to a huge increase in volume,' said Paul Chisnall, executive director of the BBA. 'That could well repeat. There may be a collective targeting mentality as a result of the legislation and we're in a state of readiness. As banks go out and are more active on this, that will also generate more interest.
'What we're trying to tell people is - it's your money; there has never been a better time to claim it.'
The majority of accounts become dormant because many of us move house and forget to update our address with the institution holding our long-term savings; the Hallifax estimates that three quarters of its dormant accounts – totalling £50m – are due to out-of-date addresses.
Nationwide has £42m in dormant accounts on its books and announced a campaign last week to reunite these assets with their owners. However Halifax have already beaten them to the game, having already reunited their customers with £6m; Alliance & Leicester has delievered a total of £31m to 19,500 customers.
Although this equates to almost £1,600 per customer, the BBA warns that the majority of payments are relatively low. It recommends that customers do not do 'blanket searches' in the hope of finding a dormant account belonging to a deceased relative who had millions squirreled away.
'It's rare anything like that happens,' said Chisnall. 'There are over 100 savings institutions with hold approximately 150m accounts in a country with a population of 60m. Blanket searches just don't work.
'Usually, customers could have nothing to £100 to several hundred pounds in a dormant account, perhaps the remnants of a mortgage payment.'
However one Hallifax customer was reunited with £100,000 during the summer.
'The types of cases we generally deal with include a grand-daughter who got in touch with us,' added Chisnall. 'A relative told her there was an account waiting for her before they died and we were able to put her in touch with her money. Other instances where we have helped people is when the executor of a will comes across documents that say there is an account there.'
Estimates of the nation's dormant accounts differ greatly: the Unclaimed Assets Register, a commercial organisation, estimates it is £15.3bn, while the BBA thinks it is between £350-500m. Either way, once all assets have been claimed, the Government estimates £400m should be freed up for community work.
It is easier to track down a dormant account if you have some piece of information to act as a lead, such as a sort code or the name of the institution. Complication arises if you only find a paybook or if the institution where you had your account no longer exists.
Free searches can be made through the BBA, the Building Societies Association or National Savings & Investments and, from next year, these will combine to offer a single online service. Some agencies charge an approximate £20 up-front fee for finding accounts and 20% of any funds recovered, but it must be stressed that you can search through either the BBA, BSA or NS&I for free, as well as through your bank if you know the account is located there.
The BBA estimates that banks need to keep dormant accounts for 15 years to ensure customers who have forgotten about their savings can easily access their money. If banks hold on to savings for 15 years, there is an 80% certainty that the money will not be reclaimed; however this would fall to 50% if they passed on funds to the Government earlier.
Source: thisismoney.co.uk
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