Do You Have Forgotten Money Waiting To Be Collected?
According to the comparison site, Compare the Market, there is over £1 billion sitting in unused bank accounts.
A survey revealed that around 37% of British people have more than one bank account, with half of them not being used on a regular occurrence. When accumulated, there is around £1.2 billion just sitting in these accounts.
Compare the Market says that the reason that these accounts exist, is because the accounts holders are failing to close their unwanted accounts, whether they are not needed or because they are changing banks.
Around 30% of people that took part in the survey said that they had opened another current account to take advantage of possible rewards. Whereas, around 20% just haven’t taken the time to close the account.
If an account has a long period without activity, the bank may decide that it is dormant. If it is labelled dormant, the bank will send a letter to the account holder to find out if they would like to keep the account open. The bank will archive the account if they receive no response to the letter.
Head of Money at Compare the Market Jody Coughlan said that they were surprised that there are some many people with a large sum of money just sitting in a bank account.
They went on to day: “It is really important to regularly check your personal finances for unusual activity and prevent financial losses.
“Unused accounts are easy targets for hackers who might be able to steal hundreds of pounds without it being detected.
“Similarly, recurring direct debits from forgotten accounts can cause customers to unknowingly go into their overdraft and incur hefty fines.”
If you think that you many have an account that you have forgotten about that could have money in, the is a very helpful website that can help you rediscover it. Go Here to find your lost account.
Before using the website search, you should visit you bank or building society and find out if they are still holding your account, and if it is still open. If the account is held as dormant, you should then use the account finder.
The website has been created by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and National Savings and Investments (NS&I). The website has the information for all the UK banks and building societies, to help find lost bank accounts.
The service is try to help people find lost accounts, so the accounts can be maintained on the active accounts list, and not the dormant list. The service can even help to find accounts for people who have passed away, an account that may have been passed down in a will.
