Advertising campaign to seek dormant account holders

The Treasury backed savings provider, National Savings and Investments (NS&I), is to launch an advertising campaign to help it find dormant account holders. NS&I hold over £435 million in accounts where there has been no customer contact for well over a decade.

Some of the funds were placed on deposit as far back as 1861 and one investor has had £184,000 in an account since at least 1990.

Several leading banks and building societies are boosting their efforts to find inactive account holders, at a time when the Government has plans to use money in dormant accounts to finance youth and community projects. The unusual step of seconding unclaimed funds in this method outlines part of a 10-year programme, which will use the money to provide projects targeted at youngsters.

Savers will be able to recover their funds, though, and still retain legal ownership of their money. People tend to lose track of their accounts when moving house and not passing on their new address details according to NS&I.

In addition, another group of dormant accounts relate to people who are deceased and their executors being unaware that the account exists.

The NS&I have no time limit on reclaiming money in a dormant account. Free tracing services are provided by NS&I, the British Bankers’ Association and the Building Societies’ Association.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Advertising campaign to seek dormant account holders