Over £90billion worth of savings missing in ‘forgotten accounts’

Expert says missing credits on financial products don’t just vanish - they wait an eternity to be claimed

MORE than £90billion is languishing in 30million forgotten accounts. So are you missing out?

On average, there is £3,141 sitting in each “lost” account – which range from savings, investments and pensions to child trust funds, says asset-tracing service Gretel.

Consumer rights expert Martyn James, says: “Missing credits on financial products don’t just vanish.

"They wait an eternity to be claimed.

"Tracking down any missing credit balance could be lucrative. You could find thousands of missing pounds.”

Laura Miller explains how you can find missing cash for free by following these easy steps.

Pensions

£23,125 in 2.8million accounts

AS many as 2.8million pension accounts are unclaimed, according to Gretel, holding £65billion of our cash — with an average of £23,125 per account waiting to be collected.

The Government’s Pension Tracing Service is a free way to track down missing pensions.

It works by helping you find ­contact details of the employer or pension provider that may be holding your forgotten pot, so you can chase them.

You can use the Pension Tracing Service (gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details) to find contact details for your own workplace or personal ­pension scheme, or someone else’s scheme if you have their permission.

You will need the name of the employer that set up your scheme or a pension provider to use it.

Investments

£2,800 in 1million accounts

AROUND a million of us have money in forgotten accounts with investment and wealth management firms, which Gretel estimates totals £2.8billion.

Consumers using the Investment Association’s free Unclaimed Assets Portal (theia.org/unclaimedassets) have reclaimed around £3,000 each. In fact, more than £250,000 has been reunited with people via the platform.

The portal, powered by Gretel, checks your details with existing records from financial services companies that are looking for customers they have lost touch with.

It will let you know immediately of any match and, once you’ve registered, it runs searches every 14 days to keep you updated on future hits.

To maximise the chance of finding a match, you can add more information to your profile — including any name changes or your National Insurance number, as well as your address history.

Banks & building societies

£321 in 14million accounts

THINK you may have an old bank account you opened years ago? You are not alone — 14million of us have forgotten bank and building society accounts, with a total of £4.5billion in them, or £321 on average, Gretel ­estimates.

The My Lost Account service can help you trace them. Lost accounts are those that have been untouched for 15 years or where mail has been returned as undeliverable.

My Lost Account operates via an online application at mylostaccount.org.uk/search. Doing it online means you can submit multiple applications and your contact details will be kept for one year.

Unsure of the name of the building society or bank? Use My Lost Account’s website to search the five largest banks — Santander, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. Hunt by location for building societies.

Child trust funds

£2,175 in 2.5million accounts

A CHILD Trust Fund is a long-term, tax-free savings account for kids born between September 1, 2002, and January 2, 2011, when the scheme closed.

Gretel estimates £5.7billion lies unclaimed in some 2.5million acc­ounts — an average of £2,175 in each.

Any cash belongs to the child, who can only take it out when they reach 18. However, they can take control of the account when they turn 16.

HMRC has set up an online tool (gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund) to find a lost Child Trust Fund.

It takes just ten minutes to complete and can be used by a parent or guardian of a child under 18, or someone 16 or over looking for their own trust fund.

NS&I

£35 in 2.3million accounts

THE amount of money in forgotten National Savings & Investments products jumped to £4.2billion last year, according to its own figures.

This includes Premium Bond prizes, as well as income bonds, certificates and other savings accounts.

In Premium Bonds alone there are £81million in unclaimed prizes — with an average of £35 across 2.3million accounts.

The My Lost Account service can help people trace lost accounts with NS&I. Check if you are owed anything with an online application at mylostaccount.org.uk/search.

Life insurance

£2,380 in 3.5million accounts

MORE than £8billion is owed to almost 3.5million people from forgotten life insurance payouts — at an average of £2,380 each, says Gretel.

If you have a life insurance policy and the document but you cannot contact the insurer, the insurer may have changed its name.

The Association of British Insurers has a list (abi.org.uk/data-and-resources/tools-and-resources/find-lost-pension) of all past and present UK insurers and their contact details.

If you are trying to find out whether you or a relative has a life insurance policy, but do not have the document or know the name of the insurer, ABI suggests using a free asset- tracing service like Gretel.

School trips too dear

MILLIONS of parents face forking out hundreds of pounds a year on fees for school outings.

Day trips now cost an average of £28, while short residential stays typically reach £430, according to research by Zurich Municipal.

But for some excursions, parents have to cough up more than £1,500. One in ten now ask grandparents to help out, while 12 per cent of kids raise the money themselves.

Schools are also struggling to afford extracurricular activities, too. A survey by the National Association of Head Teachers found that 69 per cent of school leaders have turned to grants and fundraising to cover the costs.

Mum-of-two Charlotte Higgins, from Dover, told Sun Money her heart sank when her son, 15, handed her an information slip about a school trip to New York.

The 45-year-old teaching assistant felt torn as she knew it was an incredible opportunity, but couldn’t justify £2,500 on the week-long getaway.

She said: “As my eyes moved down the page, excitement turned to dismay. It was going to cost £2,500 for just one week.

“I dreaded the thought of him missing out while all his friends jetted off. But I realised it was an outrageous rip-off.”

Families on a low income may be able to get help with some school costs from their local council, but this doesn’t normally cover trips.

JAMES FLANDERS

Savings books chopped

MORE than 100,000 Nationwide customers will have their savings passbooks scrapped next year.

The building society confirmed the books will be withdrawn from February 2025 and replaced with a Savings Wallet.

Passbooks currently allow account holders to keep track of savings with a written recording of deposits and withdrawals in the book. But Nationwide said it is modernising the documents over the next few months.

The Savings Wallet will include a card that can only be used in a Nationwide branch.

There will also be a space in the wallet for mini-statements, which will be updated when money is deposited or withdrawn and can be printed off in a branch.

This will allow customers to keep track of transactions.

Around 120,000 customers currently use a passbook, and the building society says it will start contacting those affected on July 31.

The change is most likely to impact older customers who rely on in-person banking.

A Nationwide spokesman said: “We are modernising passbooks rather than removing them, but while they are changing, banking in-branch isn’t.

“We are maintaining the benefits our passbook customers value most – face-to-face service and having a physical record of transactions.

“We are investing in our systems so we can offer the products and services our customers expect from a modern mutual.”

LANA CLEMENTS

Emma Davis