Forgotten savings accounts

TDMum

My mum was doing a bit of clearing out and she's come across 2 of my old savings books from when I was knee high to a grasshopper. 1 is a National Savings book, I remember having to fill in forms ans having to wait to be allowed to take money out at the post office. The other is an old Abbey National Instant Saver.

The last entry in the NS book says on 10th April 2001 there was a balance of £9.02 in the account. Now I know this isn't a huge amount, but with 12 years of interest added it may equate to £15-£20 and as a well known Supermarket says "Every Little Helps!"

The Abbey account's last entry is 30th April 2001 with a balance of £53.41, again 12 years of interest.

How do I go about getting these after such a long time? Will I even be able to access them? Any help would be appreciated

rb10

Before you get your hopes up too much, the interest on £9.01 is only likely to be a few pence. They have probably been on 0.1% interest for most/all of that period.

It's also quite common for old accounts to be closed without it being marked in the book - your mum may have gone into the bank, reported the book as lost, and closed the account.

Still worth a try though. Initially it would be worth getting in touch with the relevant banks to see whether the accounts are still open.

TDMum

My mum has had nothing to do with the accounts. I was given the books when I was 17 to use as pocket money etc and to put any money I got from birthdays etc in. She found them behind the radiator in my old room

I know the interest will be piddly but again a tenner is a tenner and if there is £50 in the other account then that's not to be sniffed at either really.

Abbey is no more so I don't really know where to start with that one. Did Santander take over all Abbey accounts?

I'll take the NS book to the Post Office on Monday and see if they can shed some light on that one for me

xylophone

http://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/aboutus.htm

YorkshireBoy

TDMum wrote: »

I know the interest will be piddly

In your OP you were expecting 4.5-6.5% AER over the last 12 years. That's a tad optomistic for passbook accounts.

Abbey is no more so I don't really know where to start with that one. Did Santander take over all Abbey accounts?

According to this thread* (post #7 in particular) you may have an uphill battle!


* The first hit from a google search for "Abbey National Instant Saver".

rb10

TDMum wrote: »

Abbey is no more so I don't really know where to start with that one. Did Santander take over all Abbey accounts?

Santander is the new name for what used to be Abbey.

For the NS&I one, contacting them directly through their old account tracing service is likely to yield more than going to the Post Office.

TDMum

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

In your OP you were expecting 4.5-6.5% AER over the last 12 years. That's a tad optomistic for passbook accounts.

For the post office account £50 was deposited to open it, no other deposits until 5 years later. When the interest was added on the original £50 just over £30 was added. I'm not sure if there was an intro offer or if interest was higher back then?

According to this thread* (post #7 in particular) you may have an uphill battle!


* The first hit from a google search for "Abbey National Instant Saver".

Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. It's not life or death but worth a bash on the offchance.

TDMum

Thanks for the Santander link. Looks like there's no point in following that one up. Will give the NS a try, might be able to treat the kids to an ice cream ;o)

alanq

Ombudsman's position on the subject.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/passbooks-and-dormant-accounts.htm

Lansdowne

Here is a link for the National Savings account (assuming it is the "Ordinary account" with the blue cover)
http://www.nsandi.com/savings-current-interest-rates-products-no-longer-sale#Ordinary_Account
For the Abbey account you could phone or go to a Santander branch and see what they say.