Dorment accounts

PROLIANT

Just as well I don't vote then, anyway, moving on I have several dormant accounts that I have no intention of using other than to report green credit status every month to the CRA's, what they are saying is that if I leave say £2000 in an account and do not touch it they will take my money from me? Not that this would happen to myself of course as I dont have that kind of money to spare but the point being can they legally [STRIKE]steal[/STRIKE] take this money?

ShelfStacker_3

Only after 15 years. I doubt those little green 0s add up to much when put against a current account, anyway...

ahai1

They are not going to steal your money instead they will use it for other things but you can still reclaim it.

PROLIANT wrote: »

Just as well I don't vote then, anyway, moving on I have several dormant accounts that I have no intention of using other than to report green credit status every month to the CRA's, what they are saying is that if I leave say £2000 in an account and do not touch it they will take my money from me? Not that this would happen to myself of course as I dont have that kind of money to spare but the point being can they legally [strike]steal[/strike] take this money?

PROLIANT

ahai1 wrote: »

They are not going to steal your money instead they will use it for other things but you can still reclaim it.

I was just hypothesising, not a literal statement:rolleyes: , was not aware that you could still reclaim it, in theory very similar to the old Nigerian 419 scam....a legal version.

PROLIANT

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Only after 15 years. I doubt those little green 0s add up to much when put against a current account, anyway...

Erm...I am sure helps, on a credit application when it asks "How long with bank?" take your pick of the bank which shows on your credit report as being open the longest.

ahai1

There is no scam just your money been moved that is all.

PROLIANT wrote: »

I was just hypothesising, not a literal statement:rolleyes: , was not aware that you could still reclaim it, in theory very similar to the old Nigerian 419 scam....a legal version.

trace_567

Yes they will allow you to claim it back, but think how long that would take. Plus I wonder if you'd get any interest you lost when it was "moved" added too. Thing is though if someone finds out their money has been "moved", it will probably be when they turn up at a bank/building society intending to take some out. Not overly helpfully to find out at that point I would imagine.

I also feel that the elderly are at the greatest risk of this problem occurring myself. If they have savings they wanted left for children etc. It may only come to light the money was "moved" in the event of their death. Then what?

All people know is whats been said on the news about this. If the bbc link posted higher up the thread is classing dormant accounts as 3 years, which is it....15 or 3, big difference. And to reply to a previous poster, my account was untouched for just over 3 years. I only occasionally received mail, when over a year passed with no mail from them I thought I best show my face in person. Maybe some of my mail went missing (we have notoriously bad post here).

Anyway, I still feel its wrong. Money that people put away to save should be safe till they choose to draw it out. Nobody should have to be applying to get money returned.

RayWolfe

I think some people are really getting this whole thing out of proportion. The proposal was and is that if the account was dormant (no activity) and contact with the holder is lost (no reply to enquiries) then the account will be moved to this dormant status.
At no time was it proposed to change the status without trying to contact the original holder at the address provided.
Finally, if the holder does realise that they have a dormant account and can show that it is theirs they can get their money back.
Now, if you think it reasonable that an account should remain in being forever rather than being put to a good cause then, I for one disagree. There are hundreds of thousands of account out their which no one owns and no one cares about ... how long do you think they should wait? Forever?
What are the bank/government/life haters proposing as a better solution to this growing problem?

ahai1

Let's not get carried away the money has been moved around. It has not been taken or stolen or anything.

If people kept in contact then this would not have arisen.