Millions have just ONE MONTH to check for lost cash and you could be owed thousands
HARD-UP households could be owed thousands of pounds – but by August, it is going to be harder to check if you can claim money.
The cash comes from so-called “dormant assets” which could include money in bank accounts that have been left untouched for a long time.
This could be from where people have forgotten or lost access to money they have in pensions, old bank accounts or shares.
It has been estimated that there is over £50billionn of cash out there, waiting to be found.
Banks, building societies and other financial companies must try to contact the account holders of any dormant assets.
But if they are unable to track the owners down, the money goes to the government to be distributed for good causes.
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The Dormant Assets Scheme was recently expanded to include money in pensions, insurance products, investments and wealth management, and the securities sectors (a type of investment).
This expansion is estimated to have unlocked a massive £880million in dormant assets, which the government is now thinking about how to redistribute.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to track down any money that you may have locked away somewhere, particularly if you’ve lost the paperwork.
One company that helps people to search for their forgotten cash is consumer credit reporting company Experian.
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It runs the Unclaimed Asset Register, which is a database that you can use to search to see if you have any assets held by any companies that are associated with the company.
For £25 you can create an online account and search the register for your lost money.
It searches 4.5 million records from around 80 financial providers.
However, Experian is closing down the register on August 31 – which will make it harder to find lost money if you have any.
You can visit the company’s website if you want to do a search.
Experian’s register is extensive and has millions of records, something you’ll want if you are searching for your account.
But it’s worth remembering, there are other options to search for “forgotten cash” – some of which are free.
It’s definitely worth checking – you might find you’re sitting on a small fortune without knowing.
Carol Allison from Edinburgh deposited a shilling a week into her savings for a year when she was a child with her grandmother’s help.
She forgot all about it and now aged 74, she stumbled across the bank book detailing her deposits when having a clear out recently, the BBC reported, along with details of two other accounts.
After going to the bank, she found that she could still access the money, and after more than 60 years, it is was worth £250.
How else can I search for lost cash?
Once Experian’s register closes there are still ways you can check to see if you have any dormant assets.
You might want to consider these options anyway, as many of them are free.
Age UK offers advice on how to track down lost cash, and you can also use the government’s pension tracing service online tool.
If you don’t want to search for your pension online, you can call the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193 to find contact details for an employer or personal pension scheme.
You can then contact them to find out if you have a lost pension.
Online platform Gretel is free to use. All you need to do is sign up and give a few details about yourself, including your full name and your address history.
The platform is still adding financial providers to its list, so if you do sign up you may not have any matches for lost cash now, but this could change.
Gretel estimates that unclaimed cash totals:
- £37bn in pensions
- £2.5bn of shares
- £2.8bn of wealth and investments
- £4.5bn of bank and building society accounts
- £2.0bn in life insurance
- £2.2bn in child trust funds
Make sure you keep checking to see if Gretel has found any cash.
How to track down lost accounts
My Lost Account is also a free service that helps you track down lost accounts and savings.
Another free tool which can help you find lost bank accounts is the Policydetective.co.uk site, which you can use to check if a company has changed its name, and to check for its contact details.
Money Helper has a guide for how to trace lost bank accounts, savings or Premium bonds.
And Money Saving Expert offers advice on how to find lost or dormant bank accounts.
Child Trust Funds
Millions of parents could be missing out on up to £1,500 stashed away in a Child Trust Fund in their child’s name.
Children born between September 1, 2002 and August 2, 2010, were given a government bonus of £250 each through the tax-free scheme when they were born, and then another £250 when the child reached the age of seven.
While children born between August 3, 2010 and January 2, 2011 got £50.
Lower income families would receive double the amount – adding to up to £1,000 in savings.
You can check to see if your child has one using the government’s free online tool.
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Finding investments
If you’re struggling to find a record of your investments, you can check by getting in contact with the company you have shares in.
There are also three main company registers which hold all this information – Computershare, Equiniti, and Link Asset Services.