Are you owed lost cash? How to track down forgotten pensions, savings and lottery wins
BRITS are missing out on billions of pounds sitting in forgotten bank accounts, pension schemes and lottery wins.
Luckily, there are ways to claim back your share, even years later.
If you haven't used your cash in 15 years, meaning it's become a so-called dormant account, banks are allowed to take it and hand to charity if they can't get hold of you.
But even then, it has to reunite you with your cash if you later get in touch.
The scheme has so far only applied to bank accounts, but a government-backed industry report recently said that it should be extended to cash sitting in lost funds, insurance products, pensions and shares too.
It comes as research earlier this year found that there is between £15billion and £77billion sitting in lost accounts.
If you think some of the forgotten money could be yours, below we've explained how to find it.
Old bank and building society accounts
As we're less loyal to banks and building societies, this has increased the risk of losing money as we switch.
If you know the bank you held an account with, the best thing to do is contact them directly and ask.
If you don't then fear not because it's also easy to check using the free online service called - run by UK Finance.
It covers over 30 banks and all 43 UK building societies and it will help you trace any lost personal accounts.
It is particularly useful in situations where a bank or building society has closed or merged.
Banks and building societies say they aim to respond within three months.
If a lost account is found, you’ll need to provide ID to prove that you have a legal right to the money.
Lottery wins
There are also millions sitting in unclaimed lottery winnings, but all prizes have to be claimed within 180 days - roughly six months.
To check whether you have won an unclaimed lottery prize, go to the , click on the "Check results" tab and you will find a section on unclaimed prizes.
This lists any large unclaimed prizes and the site allows you to input numbers for Lotto, EuroMillions, ThunderBall, Lotto HotPicks and EuroMillions HotPicks.
After 180 days, any unclaimed prizes go to fund National Lottery Projects.
Child Trust Funds
Millions of parents are also missing out on thousands stashed away in a Child Trust Fund in their child's name.
Children born between 2002 and 2011 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.
Lower income families would receive double the amount - adding to up to £1,000 in savings.
Yet millions have been classified as "addressee gone away", meaning they have not been claimed.
To find out if you, or more accurately your child, might be one of them, submit a request via the website.
You’ll need a Government Gateway ID, which you will already have if you submitted a tax return.
HMRC will then get back to you, usually within 15 days.
What should I do with lost CTF cash?
ALTHOUGH parents can no longer open a CTF, they can continue to save into them or transfer them to a Junior Isa.
Both have a limit of saving up to £4,368 a year until the child is 18.
It’s worth noting that children can take control of their account from age 16, although they cannot make a withdrawal until they reach 18.
The best Junior Isa on the market, from Coventry Building Society, currently pays 3.6 per cent - more than 1 per cent better than the best cash child trust fund open to all, a Skipton Building Society fund paying 2.5 per cent.
Working on a cash basis is easier than tackling stocks and shares, but you’re unlikely to make as much money.
Given children have time on their hands to weather any bumps along the road, investing in stocks and shares could enable them to grow their money more in the long-term.
Justin Modray, financial analyst at CandidMoney.com said: “The default stakeholder accounts are relatively safe bets, but there will always be better options on the market.
“Look around, take advice, switch and watch your child’s money grow.”
Lost insurance policies
Life insurance policies are also easily forgotten about as you can hold them for many years.
In fact, there is £2billion languishing in unclaimed life insurance, estimates Unclaimed Assets UK, which helps to trace lost money.
To find out if a deceased person had a life insurance policy, it can be helpful to go through old bank statements or cancelled cheques to see if any premiums were paid.
Another way to claim your share is by contacting the people who dealt with their legal or financial matters and even past employers.
Or it could be worth checking the Unclaimed Assets Register, run by credit reference agency Experian, although this costs £25 per search.
It will help if you know the name of the insurance company, but if the firm name doesn't exist then you could try the Association of British Insurers or .
Pensions
We have an average of 11 jobs during our working lives, which makes it easy to lose track of employee pensions.
In fact, savers lose up to £300 a year from their pensions due to frequent job moves, research found last year.
Personal pensions can also get lost when you move house, change your name or don't update your personal details.
No wonder then that there is currently more than £5billion in forgotten pension schemes in the UK, according to the Pension Tracing Service.
But there are ways you can track this money down - is free and you can start the process online.
You will then be sent documents which you need to sign in order for it to search on your behalf.
Or you could also try the , which is another free service providing advice and search tools.
Premium Bonds
There are currently more than 1.6 million unclaimed Premium Bond prices worth a whopping £63million, according to the NS&I.
Similar to bank accounts, the service can tell you if you hold any Premium Bonds which you may not have been aware of.
That could be useful to know, but most people will want to find out if those missing Premium Bonds have won a prize over the years.
To find out whether you hold a prize-winning number you should visit and fill in the online form.
NS&I says it will respond within one month.
Note that any Bonds bought more than 30 years ago are likely to be individually numbered – to get a bond holder’s number you will need to write to NS&I at Glasgow, G58 1SB.
Investments
If you think you've bought shares in a company, but you have no record of them then you can check by applying directly to any or all of the three main company registrars – Capita, Computershare and Equiniti.
They will search their records for free but will charge you a fee for issuing a replacement certificate.
Alternatively, the or the might be able to help.
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