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Join Which? Money£4.5bn sat in lost accounts: could some of the money belong to you?
Money left in dormant accounts is eventually given away – find out how to stop
your accounts becoming inactive
Finding £10 in your pocket can make your day – but what if you found £40 in overlooked premium bond prizes or £450 in a forgotten bank account?
Those are the average amounts currently sat in unclaimed prizes and dormant bank accounts. You could stand to be reunited with much more if you've lost a pension, with the average value totalling more than £23,000.
A survey of 1,465 Which? members in January 2023 found that 6% had lost a bank account, and 6% had lost premium bonds – but, of course, the true numbers could be far higher as many people won't realise they've lost touch with their cash.
Here, Which? rounds up the best ways to search for lost accounts and explains what you can do to stop them going ‘missing’.
How do accounts become lost?
Current accounts and savings accounts may be marked as dormant or inactive by the provider if it is unable to contact you at your last known address, or if you don't respond to its correspondence. This could be triggered by undelivered mail and a set period of inactivity.
Current accounts can be marked as inactive after just a year. It's usually longer for savings accounts, but this varies between banks.
The table below shows when the major UK banks mark accounts as dormant or inactive, based on information provided on their websites. We've asked for further information in cases where this information is unclear, and will update this table when we know more.
| Provider | When accounts will be classed as inactive |
|---|---|
| Barclays | Barclays' website says accounts will be classed as inactive after 'some time'. We've asked for further information. |
| HSBC | If no transactions are made to or from an account over a 12-month period, an account is classed as inactive. |
| Lloyds Banking Group (including Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds Bank) | Accounts will be classed as inactive after three years (10 years for ISAs) if no transactions have been made, you haven't responded to communications and you don't hold a separate active account. |
| Nationwide | Nationwide will close your account if it's not been used for 15 years. |
| NatWest (including Royal Bank of Scotland) | A bank account will be classed as inactive if it's not been used for five years. |
| Santander | Current accounts will be marked as inactive after one year, savings accounts after three years. |
| TSB | Savings and current accounts will be classed as inactive if a transaction hasn't been made for three years. Your account will also be frozen. |
- Find out more: best and worst banks
How much money is sat in lost accounts?
Around 20 million people could have forgotten money sitting in ‘lost’ bank accounts, savings accounts, pensions and investments, totalling £50bn. That's according to asset tracing service Gretel.
The table below shows how much unclaimed or lost money is held in each financial product, and the number of people estimated to be affected.
| Financial product | Total lost/dormant | Number of people affected (millions) | Average value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensions | £37bn | 1.6 | £23,125 |
| Shares | £2.5bn | 2 | £1,250 |
| Wealth and investments | £2.8bn | 1 | £2,800 |
| Bank and building society accounts | £4.5bn | 10 | £450 |
| Life insurance | £2bn | 1.5 | £800 |
| Child Trust Funds | £2.2bn | 1m | £2,200 |
| NS&I premium bonds prizes | £60m | 1.5 | £40 |
Source: Gretel
- Find out more: do you know how to find lost pensions?
How to find lost accounts
The easiest way to find lost or dormant bank accounts is to use My Lost Account.
This free service covers over 73 providers, including NS&I, and searches with banks and building societies will be completed within three months.
As there is no obligation for providers to list their lost assets centrally, you may have to use a number of sites to search for specific assets, such as insurance policies and shares.
Searching for lost workplace pensions can also be quite an onerous task, as several volunteers found out when we tasked them to track down their old pension pots. The government is planning to introduce pensions dashboards as a way to bring pension pots together in one place, but this already-delayed project recently announced another hold-up, so we're unlikely to see it launched any time soon.
Both Gretel and Vestigium Services can be worth trying, as they are free ‘catch-all’ services that can search for multiple assets at once.
- Find out more: how to search for lost bank and savings accounts
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Listen nowHow to trace assets for family members
Some providers will allow you to use the service on behalf of a vulnerable family member, however they will not release funds unless you have the legal rights in place.
For example, My Lost Account will allow you to use the service on behalf of a loved one, but if the funds are located the firm will not release them without proof of ownership, so you may need to set up something like a lasting power of attorney if the person whose account it is doesn't have the capacity to manage it.
You can also use the service to search for accounts belonging to someone who has died but, if an account is traced, My Lost Account told Which? you will need to prove your identity and that you're entitled to receive the balance in the account – for example, through the provision of a will.
- Find out more: what to put in your will
What happens if you don't find your money?
After 15 years, money in held dormant bank accounts, pensions, investments and life insurance policies is given to charitable causes under the government’s Dormant Assets Scheme.
However, you’ll still be able to reclaim your money after this point if you manage to track down an old account.
The Dormant Assets Scheme has paid out £892m since 2011, and earlier this month the government announced that £76m in the scheme will go towards those struggling with the cost of living crisis, including no-interest loans for almost 70,000 people and cash to improve energy efficiency.
Top tips for keeping track of your money
As long as you're using your accounts fairly regularly, you won't need to worry about them becoming inactive – but here are some tips to stay in touch with your cash:
Keep your contact details up to date
If you move house, remember to update your contact details with all of your providers.
You should also aim to review your details once a year to check everything is correct.
If there's a lot to review, you could consider merging some accounts if they aren't being used. For example, you may realise you don't need four separate current accounts.
- Find out more: which banks have the best online and app security
Let your loved ones know
Make sure your loved ones know about your accounts.
One way to do this is drawing up an assets register, outlining all of your accounts and where they are held.
This should be kept securely with your will so nothing goes missing in the event of your death.
- Find out more: how to make a will
Use free services first
Most asset tracing services, including My Lost Account, Gretel and Vestigium Services, are free to use.
For lost pensions, you can use the government's Pension Tracing Service for free, and Policy Detective for insurance policies.
Some services offer to track down assets for a fee – before you consider these options, note that there's no guarantee anything will be found, and be vigilant of scammers trying to get hold of your personal details.
