Have you reclaimed old bank accounts/savings/investments? Success Stories wanted!

Former_MSE_Dan
Former_MSE_Dan Posts: 1,593
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edited 11 June 2013 at 4:52PM in Savings & investments
Hi

This is the forum to let us know if you've Reclaimed Lost Cash - this can be in bank accounts, premium bonds, pensions or investments.

Let us know about any successes you've had in doing this, and please include how much you got back, what sort of financial product it was, which methods you used to reclaim it (My Lost Account, Pensions Tracing Service etc) and how long it took you to get your money back.


Success stories are always vital as they inspire other MoneySavers, letting them know that the process isn't difficult and can turn up some quite large sums of money.

If you want to discuss the process in general, rather than successes, please go to Reclaiming Lost Assets discussion

Cheers folks,

Dan

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Former MSE team member
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Comments

  • I found my old National Saving book last week, there was £10 left in it. I had read the part of the website about claiming forgotton money so... I took the book along to he post office and they gave me a form to fill in to close the account. This then had to be send off.
    2 days ago I got a letter back saying the interest was £152. I had not used the account since 1992. I was gobsmacked - so went and got the cash. Without this site I would not have bothered. Thank you.

    I urge all you money savers out there - RECLAIM LOST MONEY!!!

    :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
  • HI folks,

    We received this in the post to MoneySaving Towers recently, so i thought I'd share the great story of success.

    Have edited it a bit in places to keep it short :)
    Dear Mr Lewis,

    I thought you might like to hear of my recent windfall. My father died in 1974 and I recently found some Life Assurance policies belonging to him in a shoebox in the loft.

    I sent 2 of them to the Prudential, and they were very helpful. They paid the policy values and very generously also paid an additional allowance because of the time that had elapsed since my fathers claim arose, between 1974 and 2007.

    I sent the other 2 policies to Royal London, though I was a bit disappointed because all they apid was the surrender value; and these policies were taken out in 1913 and 1926

    Slight shame on those last 2, but at least he received some money. Imaghine the interest since 1913 though!!

    Hope this spurs anyone on who is umming and ahhing over whether to bother :)

    Dan
    Former MSE team member
  • My husband recently had a letter from the Norwich Union about a policy he and his girlfriend at the time had with the Commercial Union. They have asked for contact details (old and current) and signatures of both him and his ex, and also the policy number.

    When they split up and sold the flat they had bought I think the policy paperwork must have got lost. As this was back in the early 1980's my husband doesn't even remember what happened with this policy.

    As Norwich Union have asked for these details we are assuming that because of the timing, i.e. 25 years, the policy has now matured and there is some money to come, and not that the Norwich Union want to add another two people to their marketing database.

    As this is a joint policy between my husband and his ex will Norwich Union split any proceeds between the two of them or will they pay with one cheque and expect that my husband and his ex to sort it out between them.

    I have traced my husbands ex and sent her the letter asking for her to complete her details and send back to us so that we can send on to Norwich Union with our details.

    Anybody out there had this happen to them.

    Madge
  • I thought I had an old post office savings account as a child that I never closed.

    Traced 2 accounts 35 years later. One had £7.00 in it!!!. But the other had £1380!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I don't have the book, so will still have a few hurdles to jump to get the money.

    Excellent result.
  • polus_
    polus_ Posts: 30 Forumite
    I have a post office account from 1980 with £2 in it, wonder how much is in it now?

    Edited:
    Around £7.47 hmmm...
  • Hi all...

    I want to say a big thank you to MSE, whilst browsing the site a few weeks ago I came across the article about reclaiming old savings accounts which prompted me to contact "My Lost Account". Nothing ventured, nothing gained I thought.

    I have an account with NS&I which has been dormant since 2000 & I don't have the pass book. The procedure to reclaim my money couldnt have been simpler, one form to complete online that requested basic information. Two weeks later NS&I wrote to me confirming my application had found my account & would I send them my signature to complete the process.

    Today I have received my pass book from NS&I with a healthy balance of just over five hundred pounds. 8 years interest 214.38. I couldnt urge anyone enough to reclaim their money.

    Once again thanks Martin & the team at MSE for the invaluable advice you provide.


  • I have just found £3.34 in a TSB account that has not been used for about 20 years,
    it will be given to a charity of my choice rather than being absorbed somewhere else.
    Please check out your dormant accounts, it is easy, and you can decide what to do with any money in there, rather than the government making the decision.
    ;)
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,035
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Slight shame on those last 2, but at least he received some money. Imaghine the interest since 1913 though!!

    Not a shame Dan. I think the poster has used incorrect terminology as you dont get paid a surrender value on death. Its more likely that they would have had a daily value and they pay out that value. The pru plans would almost certainly have been sum assured plus bonuses. So, in both cases, they did exactly what they were meant to do.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Hello!
    I don't know if you can class this as a sucess or not. I found an old bank book from The London trustee savings bank, it hadn't been touched since 1972.

    There was only £2.45 in the account, but I tried the Mylostaccount site.
    I got a reply form Lloyds TSB who took over the London trustee savings bank.

    They could find no record of my account, even though I had given them the account number, address, branch etc. They said as a gesture of good will, if I took the book into my local branch they would pay me the balance plus interest to date.

    I thought ok!

    Took it into day, apparently in 36yrs the interest accrued is £4.05p.

    I took the £6.50, what else could I do!

    I must admit, I didn't know what to expect, but I left with the impression that, they didn't know what to do, and some manager said offer 5% per year and see if he will accept it.

    After that experience I shalln't be opening account with Lloyds TSB.
  • Saw details of mylostaccount on this site - and thought about a few old Premium Bonds I used to have (about ten years ago).

    I contacted NS&I (through mylostaccount), and after some time they wrote back saying they couldnt locate them. So I gave up on them.

    Then a few months later NS&I sent me another letter saying that they MIGHT have located them. I had to verify my signature.
    Today (quite a few months later - I'd guess it's at the very least 5 months) I recieved my certificate - and it turns out that there's £45 worth of them.

    Better still having just checked the NS&I site it appears that I won £50 in the October draw - nice one!!

    However - I hope someone here can help me with this - the NS&I site only checks the past 6 months. How do I know whether or not I have won anything else over the past 10 years??!!
    And also the NS&I site isnt very clear on how I get hold of the £50 I won - maybe they'll send that to me soon?

    Either way....thanks very much to this site for helping me to relocate them. I'm (at least) £95 better off.
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