Over £2.8billion of savings lies unclaimed – are you owed part of the pot?Metro’s money expert Rosie Murray-West tells you how to find out…
The Isa was introduced 26 years ago and those who opened them in the early days and later moved house or changed other details may have lost touch with some of the accounts they opened.
More money has been ‘lost’ like this than you might think.
According to lost asset finder Gretel there is more than £2.8 billion in lost investments across the UK.
If letters are returned to banks unopened and accounts are not used, eventually a bank will decide that an account is ‘dormant’, and hand the money to the Dormant Assets Scheme, a government-backed project that lends money to vulnerable people.
The good news is, the account may be dormant, but it is not dead, so you can still get the money back.
If you think your hard-earned Isa savings may be part of the billions of pounds worth of dormant account cash, there are easy ways to find them – even if it has been many years since you last touched your money, or the bank or building society that held the money has since been taken over.
The right way to find your lost Isa will depend on whether you were saving in cash or in stocks and shares and whether you have any details at all about where your money might be.
Here’s how to get started.
Lost cash Isas
If you think you may have lost track of a cash Isa, your first step should be to try to remember where you might have held it.
This is because it is easier and quicker to trace an account if you can find a passbook or statement, even if these proofs of holding the account are from a long time ago.
Searching through old bank statements to find regular payments into a savings account might reveal the whereabouts of your Isa, or you may find paperwork in the depths of a filing cabinet.
In some cases, even if you remember where you opened your Isa, that provider might have disappeared from the high street and been swallowed up by a bigger bank or building society. For example, an Alliance & Leicester Isa will now be held by Santander, while Cheltenham & Gloucester accounts became part of TSB.
Once you have trawled for any clues you can provide, you can either contact the bank or building society directly or use the My Lost Account website.
The service is free and allows you to search multiple bank and building society providers for lost accounts.
They’ll need any clues you can offer them, and a list of past addresses, including your childhood home, and details of any name changes.
Armed with that information, it will look for cash Isas and also savings and current accounts as well as Premium Bonds.
It will only find those accounts that the provider has also marked as lost, so if it’s only been a couple of years, youwill not find your account.
Lost stocks and shares Isas
If you had an investment Isa or other stocks and shares investment, My Lost Account won’t help you find it. However, there are other ways to track these down.
Sign up for the Unclaimed Assets Portal run by the Investment Association, which will check your details against lost accounts. You could also consider signing up for Gretel, which powers the IA register.
Gretel searches many financial services businesses and will keep your details on register and continue searching in future as more businesses join.
As well as Isas, it can find pensions, insurance policies and child trust funds. Adding in your National Insurance number, usually required when you take out an Isa, will increase your chances of finding a match.
The important reason to reclaim your Isas
While the Isas that you have lost contact with are still yours, it is important to reclaim them to stop your money losing value. Most older Isa products have very low interest rates, and your money will still be earning that very low rate in a dormant account.
If a lost cash Isa or other account is found, you may need to provide extra identification, possibly including a witnessed signature, before finding out how much is in the pot. You will then be told the details of the account so you can access it.
If you find an old Isa, ensure you follow the right transfer protocols to stop the money losing its tax-free status. Once you have the number from your old account, open a new Isa with a provider with a good interest rate that accepts Isa transfers, and apply to have your money transferred directly to the new account. That way you won’t be liable for tax on the interest, and your newly found Isa investment won’t impact on this year’s Isa allowance. Trading 212’s cash Isa allows you to transfer money in and has a current rate of 4.76 per cent, so is one good option for this.
Yippee… you’ve found it! Now what?
Whatever you do, remember that you should never have to pay anyone to trace your lost Isa accounts. My Lost Account and Gretel are free, and easy to operate, and if you do not want to apply online there are forms available to download and use by post.
Even if you’re not sure you have an Isa or other account that you have forgotten about, you’ve nothing to lose by finding out.
MORE: A beginner’s guide to Isas and how almost half of us are missing out on tax-free money
MORE: Brits with £3,500 or more in savings risk imminent HMRC tax bill
