Reclaim lost assets for free discussion

Gud83

About 10 years ago I bought a flat with a mortgage through what was then the Abbey National. Along with the mortgage I was paying £9 a month for life assurance.

I sold the flat a few months later but continued to pay the life assurance - it came out as a direct debit and I hardly noticed it going. This continued until I closed my account a couple of years later.

A while after, I contacted the Abbey to ask if I could reclaim the money I had paid in; they told me it was possible but I had missed the deadline by about a fortnight. At the time I accepted that as bad luck, but now I'm wondering if there is a way to get the money back after all? The problem is that I don't think I have any paperwork relating to that account.

Any help would be gratefully received.

lilyjay76

hiya just browsing the site and saw this thread. i remembered that in the first year of high school i opened an savings account with yorkshire bank . i cant remember how much was in it but somewhere about £5 mark .last activity in 1988 will my money still be there and will it have paid any interest ?

purple-eyez

Does anyone know about the old penny policy? My Mum said her Mum took one out for her but she only mentioned it recently... would this still be active? where does she start investigating?

costello333

So much money becomes unclaimed. It is incredible. My Aunt Carol recently got back about $17,000 from an old account in her dead husbands estate. It was a real windfall as she needed to fix her roof and the money sure came in handy. Turns out there are a whole bunch of people who tried to charge her a fee to recover the dormant account. One outfit tried to charge her 33%. She almost signed with them as she really does not think these things out. Eventually her Johnny - oops - her nephew - helped by searching things on the internet. Altough he did was not able to locate the property he did find another company that advertises to find unclaimed property for a smaller fee than other companies charge. I think the name of the place was find unclaimed accounts or find dormant accounts. Some such thing.

theluckofthedraw

Hi,

In 1988/89 we took out a policy for our newborn daughter with the Pru man (doorstep service then) - I think we took out one for our son in 1992 also.

After a couple of moves and a recent success with a pension find for my husband, this has inspired me to try and trace down these policies.

Does anyone know what these name/type of policies they were known as? I remember the discussion at the time about maturing when they were 18 or 21 years old , but have lost all track?

thanks in advance

fryster2006

Don't know where to start with this, so hoping for some advice. When I was a child, every year me and my sister used to receive a letter through the post once a year. I believe it was a children's bonus bond, but can't be sure. It was a statement of how much my Mum and Dad had paid in and the 'interest' accrued.I also remember that it was payable when we reached 16, and me and my sister both used to plan what we would buy with it! The account would have been opened around early 1982 when my sister was born, and I always remember that she had more in hers than mine. I'm guessing that was because hers would have run for 2 years more then mine. Anyway, when I turned 16 my Dad and partner made me sign something. I knew that it wasn't in my interest to sign this, and asked to read it properly. They refused to let me and being a child I did as I was told. Shortly after I left home and went to live with my Mum, have never spoken properly to my Dad since. My sister soon followed suit, but she was only 14 at the time and wouldn't have signed anything. So her money is either sat dormant, or possibly has been fraudulently transferred somewhere. My Mum can't remember who administered the scheme, all she can remember is that it was linked to life insurance of some sort and that she and my dad had cashed their life insurance in due to cash flow problems but mine and my sister's had carried on. To further complicate matters my Dad now lives in Cyprus. When I questioned him about this he has denied any knowledge of any savings etc. Where do I start? Many Thanks, hope this makes some sense!

lsparky88

Hi im not sure if this is the right place but im a bit lost and could do with some help.
My auntie opened a childs saver account for me when I was born and although it was never touched or added too I always had the cash book. Now that I have moved I can't remember where ive put it!
Before I moved I went to the bank with the cash book to withdraw the funds and close the account as I was pregnant I thought the money would help at a tough time. The bank said I couldn't do anything eventhough my name is on the account, my auntie opened it so she would have to do it all! I rarely see my auntie so this was a hard thing to sort out. I am above the age (wayyy above) for the account and I believe the withdrawal age was 18 so why could I not access it? I had proof of id etc.
I tried the link on here too through the BBA but again they have emailed saying there is no account in my name! Should I try my aunties name?
Could someone shed some light on this please?

Thank you

mudpuffin

Query re: Old Insurance policies on a deceased persons account.
sadly my father has just died and I have found a number of Prudential and Life Assurance policies which are in his name, my deceased mothers and my name. Prudential state that they have a record of the policies but they have no value. Checking through the books it appears that they are not claimed on and I clearly remember as a child the 'man from the pru' knocking monthly to collect the payment. if money has been paid in surely there should be some to come back, even if they are quite old? How should I proceed?

[Deleted User]

mudpuffin wrote: »

Prudential state that they have a record of the policies but they have no value.

Surely the insurance company will have explained why they have no value? Are they lapsed policies which your parents failed to keep paying?

mudpuffin wrote: »

if money has been paid in surely there should be some to come back, even if they are quite old?

Not necessarily.

mudpuffin wrote: »

How should I proceed?

Well, if it has not been explained already, you can ask Prudential to clarify exactly why the policies are no longer valid.

dunstonh

mudpuffin wrote: »

Query re: Old Insurance policies on a deceased persons account.
sadly my father has just died and I have found a number of Prudential and Life Assurance policies which are in his name, my deceased mothers and my name. Prudential state that they have a record of the policies but they have no value. Checking through the books it appears that they are not claimed on and I clearly remember as a child the 'man from the pru' knocking monthly to collect the payment. if money has been paid in surely there should be some to come back, even if they are quite old? How should I proceed?

Pru keep records on plans that have a value but plans that lapse (premiums cease being paid and the life assurance stops) or plans that are surrendered (money withdrawn) or are claimed out (due to an earlier death on a joint policy for example) will only have records retrained for a limited period thereafter. Typically no less than 6 years but increasingly archived after that.

What books are you referring to?

Pru ceased premium collections nearly 15 years ago. People were given the choice to move to direct debit/standing order. Although a number ceased their policies and moved to alternatives or just didnt bother any more.

You are assuming the policy had a value. However, if it was a pure life assurance policy, it would have no value until death and only if premiums were continued. What type of policy was it?