Experian to close tracing service – here's how to search for lost cash

A useful service that helps consumers track down lost cash and other financial assets will be shutting on Monday 29 August.  

Experian’s Unclaimed Asset Register (UAR) is a database that helps you locate lost assets, such as bank accounts, pensions and investments.

With the country in a cost of living crisis and an estimated £50bn waiting to be claimed, now could be a good time to check if you're owed anything.

Here, Which? explains how the UAR works and what else you can use once the service closes.

What is Experian’s Unclaimed Asset Register?  

The UAR has been around for 20 years and is a database of investments, pensions and life insurance policies held with 76 major providers, including share registrars, administered by Experian. 

The credit reporting firm traces all the services in one go, but you have to pay a fixed fee of £25. 

You’ll usually get your results within two working days from the date the request has been submitted. However, it doesn't cover all financial institutions, so if you don't get a match, or you don't want to pay the fee, there are other options.

Experian told Which? the service no longer formed part of its long-term strategic plans but said its website directed consumers to other services they could use instead.

• Find out more: how to search for lost bank and savings accounts

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How do assets become lost?

Assets can be lost in a number of ways. Typical reasons include:

• Moving home and forgetting to update your address
• Death of an asset holder and the executors/administrators not being aware it exists
• Illegal activity – for example, a fraudulent name or address change
• Corporate changes such as mergers or takeovers might give rise to entitlements you’re not aware of
• Making investments and forgetting about them, and not telling family members they exist.

Find out more: moving home checklist

Do providers have to list lost assets?

There is no obligation for providers to list their lost assets on a central database, such as Experian’s UAR, but they have set procedures in place to try and contact customers before they mark the account as lost. 

Providers will hold on to money in dormant accounts for several years – and should hand it over straight away if the accounts are traced.

Most large banks are signed up to the government’s Dormant Assets Scheme, which means after 15 years the money in dormant bank accounts is given to charitable causes. However, you will still be able to reclaim your money after this point. 

The scheme was recently expanded to include other financial assets, including insurance policies, pension pots and investments.

A quick way to check is to go on to your financial provider’s website and search ‘lost account’. It should bring up information on its procedures and if it's signed up to the Dormant Assets Scheme.  

• Find out more: best and worst banks

'£50bn unclaimed in the UK’ 

Gretel, a new tracing service, estimates that 20 million people have unclaimed money in the UK and this amounts to around £50bn – with the majority of this trapped in pensions.

A survey of 2,000 adults carried out by Gretal in March found that 44% think they might have a lost or dormant account, yet only 13% have tried to track them down. 

The table below is what Gretel estimates is lost in the UK.

Source: Gretel estimates.

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How to trace lost assets

There are a number of free services you can use to trace down assets. You can find information on how to use them in our guide on tracing lost bank and savings accounts.

Bank accounts, premium bonds and funds

The easiest way to retrace lost or dormant bank and savings accounts is to use the mylostaccount.org.uk service, run by the British Bankers' Association, Building Societies Association and National Savings and Investments (NS&I). 

You can also use NS&I’s tracing form if you have lost premium bonds.

The government has also set up a specific web portal to search for lost child trust funds.

Investments and pensions

For workplace pension schemes, contact your former employer or use the government's free online Pension Tracing Service to identify the correct contact details.

For personal pension savings, call Money Helper's pension service, providing it with as much information as possible about the scheme, your dates of employment and copies of any certificates you still have.

In the future, this process is due to become easier with the launch of pensions dashboards, which will enable millions of workers to view all their pension pots in one place online.

• Find out more: five things you need to know about pension dashboards

Will any services replace Experian?

There are several newer sites set up, however, their database is not as big as Experian, so your search might be unsuccessful. 

Gretel launched earlier this year and is free for consumers to use who are over the age of 18 and a resident of the UK. 

All you need to do is register your details and it will continue to keep searching as more records are added.

Currently, it has around £3bn of assets on its platform and will keep searching as more records are added to its database.