Dormant Bank Accounts And Insurance policies, shares...

An amazing number of people seem to leave money in a bank or building society account when they move house, or marry, or split up - the stress and strain of a particular period of their life being so great that the few tens or hundreds of pounds involved is not enough to be dealt with straight away.. and then weeks months or years later a passbook or a statement turns up which reminds someone of the little nest egg they left safely (!) with their bankers.

And people leave money when they die - but where did they leave it? How many accounts were there? Could we have missed one somehow?

According to one independent survey, a lot of money has gone missing - 41 BILLION POUNDS is said to be locked away in various safe places until the rightful owner comes along.

AND IT COULD BELONG TO YOU...

So are you searching for funds, or shares, or some other valuables which you believe were left in safe keeping?

The Present Position
The situation in this country at the moment is that each financial institution keeps its own archives either on paper (!) or on computer (somewhere) "so that the rightful inheritors of dormant account monies can be identified".

If the account you are looking for is really old, it may never have been put onto a computer at all. Or it may have been put onto the 'old' system, but never transferred onto the latest network. Or these days it may have been put onto a computer system which was part of a merger or takeover.

The practice with most financial institutions seems to be to leave an account for a year or two after the last deposit or withdrawal before taking any action. A letter at that stage to the last known address is (strangely) often returned marked 'not known'. The funds are moved into a holding account by the bank, which keeps a separate record of the monies in case the owner returns.

Searching For Records
In theory these records can be searched by individuals trying to find lost accounts, but because of the stringent security operated by institutions only a 'yes/no' response seems to be available - ie you have to ask whether a particular account exists by customer name and address. The institution will tell you whether it can find such a record.

You have no way to tell whether they have made a mistake in searching a database (anyone accessing this information from the Internet will know how reliable searches of large databases can be!), or even in transferring your search request into the computer. Did you quote the correct name? Was the account in the name of J M Smith, James Smith, or Mr and Mrs J Smith??

Do you have an account number?
The first reaction by many institutions seems to be "unless you can quote an account number, we can't help you."

DO NOT accept such a statement. If records are kept on computer, searches should be possible by name, address or any combination. Supply as much information as possible, and ask the bank to confirm in writing whether or not they have been able to trace an account.

Get it in WRITING
Written confirmation that there is no account in the name or at the address you quote will have to satisfy you unless of course you later find proof that an account was held at that institution. The ensuing legal action could be interesting and highly profitable.

Where to look
Unfortunately there is no alternative in searching for dormant funds or property to making an approach to all the possible holders of such funds or property. Some detective work is called for to identify possible candidates, then careful correspondence with each possibility until a declaration is received that no such person is or was a client. Do ask the widest possible question- "Do you hold any account/property in the name or names of James Martin Smith (J M Smith) and/or Elizabeth Mary Smith (Mrs E M Smith) or in these joint names at any of the following addresses?"

There seem to be over 400 possible archives of various types, and we are building up a list of all such archives in the UK so that researchers into dormant accounts can be pursued with minimum inconvenience. We would appreciate anyone carrying out such research letting us know the address of the archive they are using, and the progress of their research. Particularly let us know whether you have any problems in getting information out of the institution.

The FUTURE
In other countries the funds left in dormant accounts are not left to individual commercial bodies to continue to hold and invest. (It could be argued that such bodies have an interest in the owners of such funds not being found.)

Instead the funds are deposited centrally and a register is established of the name and address of the original account holder so that searches can be made centrally and easily.

On the Internet there is even a site which proclaims "60 Billion Dollars - and it's ALL YOURS" - as institutions in the US try to identify the owners of dormant account funds.

We would like to see a similar exercise in the UK with all dormant accounts being converted into a central fund and suitable central records being kept of the former depositors in case they, or their inheritors return. Perhaps one day you will see the results on this site.

If you are searching for lost funds, drop a line to your MP to suggest it is long past time that the institutions repaid their borrowings to their customers. If you had £41 Billion of the bank's money, they would have asked for it back by now...

IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU, OR A CLOSE RELATIVE MAY HAVE LEFT SOME FUNDS IN A DORMANT BANK ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, PLEASE SEND THE APPROPRIATE NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) TO NABC. WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW MANY CLAIMS ARE BEING MADE ON THE MAGIC £41 BILLION...

In any event if you need additional help finding funds, please let us know. There are firms which specialise in tracking down such lost property.

 

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