Inherited Shares and Unclaimed Dividends

Bronnie

I have found a couple of forum posts, but nothing recent re this. Apologies if it is discussed somewhere I've missed.

My parents each held the 100 free Abbey National Shares from years ago, which had been forgotten about. Mum died in 1999, my dad then went into a nursing home. Over the years, their Abbey National accounts were closed, forgetting about the dividend that was being paid in.

My dad died in 2013 and the Share Certs emerged. I applied to have both sets transferred to my name and paid the £79.50 fee twice, for each parent's shares. I have received a letter stating the shares are being transferred. I had not even thought about dividends, but when I got home from work, I was greeted by a mountain of envelopes on my doormat! There were some 22 letters from Santander.

17 of the letters had dividend cheques attached, ranging from £0.39 to £171.79. There was no clear statement of the dates these payments relate to. By paying the dividends in this manner meant each individual dividend was subject to an admin fees on a sliding scale, but up to £40 per cheque. The total due was £822, less fees taken of £190, representing 23%

I had not requested the dividends at that point, nor was I given any option of how to have the dividends paid. The dividend cheques each stated that I should bank it as soon as possible! Before I contact them, is there anyone who has dealt with a similar situation and resolved it without paying fees at this level?

Thank you.

Daniel54

The same thing happened to me a few years ago.I'm guessing the letters are from Equiniti as registrars for Santander.

I'm afraid this is just how it works ( I could find no other options) so so suggest you cash the cheques and consider yourself £632 better off than you were before

Bronnie

Thanks for your reply. Yes, that's certainly the easiest way but maybe not the way for more robust MSEs!

An earlier unanswered post on MSE suggested completing a mandate and requesting unpaid dividends be paid into that, presumably returning the cheques they sent, although the mandate form they sent only refers to doing that for future dividends.

Has anyone had any successes?

patientperson

Bronnie wrote: »

I have received a letter stating the shares are being transferred. I had not even thought about dividends, but when I got home from work, I was greeted by a mountain of envelopes on my doormat! There were some 22 letters from Santander.

17 of the letters had dividend cheques attached, ranging from £0.39 to £171.79. There was no clear statement of the dates these payments relate to. By paying the dividends in this manner meant each individual dividend was subject to an admin fees on a sliding scale, but up to £40 per cheque. The total due was £822, less fees taken of £190, representing 23%

I had not requested the dividends at that point, nor was I given any option of how to have the dividends paid. The dividend cheques each stated that I should bank it as soon as possible! Before I contact them, is there anyone who has dealt with a similar situation and resolved it without paying fees at this level?

Thank you.

Cheques are valid for 6 months so you are not obliged to pay them into a bank asap. The 'soon as possible' is an option but not mandatory. A dividend payment can be by cheque as in your case or maybe it is possible to invest the full gross dividend into more new shares in your name. By returning the cheques and requesting more shares instead you might be better off. Of course you would need further advise and contact with Santander or Equiniti. I think you have a case as you had not yet requested or been offered the option to discuss dividends. Good luck.

puk999

I found I had some Standard Life shares recently from their demutualisation in 2006. They were registered with Capita stockbrokers. There were 4 outstanding dividend payments for the following amounts: £87.21, £46.45, £214.24 and £49.48. Cheques had been issued for these a while ago but never presented because I had moved house and they didn't know about my new address.

When I enquired about getting these dividends reissued to me they told me:

There are four uncashed cheques on your shareholding totalling £397.38.

Before we can reissue your dividends we need you to pay a fee – this goes towards our administration costs and the charges we have to pay to stop the original cheques.

For dividends over £30 we charge £12 each and for dividends over £100 we charge £15 each.

The total fee we need is £51.00.

If you've been charged up to £40 each for the higher value cheques that seems quite high in comparison. I emailed them moaning about the charges and they halved them to £25.50 as a goodwill gesture.

Not sure if my experience helps you at all.

Bronnie

Thanks for all advice. I phoned today.

Had a good old moan to them, was passed on to a team leader who was quite sympathetic. She waived all fees except a one-off admin fee of £40 covering reissued dividends on each set of shares; in effect a £150 refund to my account.

I complained there was no statement detailing payments and that most of the dividends had no date on them. She did say some of the smaller payments had been aggregated into one cheque (thus making them liable for the highest admin charge of £40). I didn't push it,because I got my result, but they really should be ashamed of some of their shabby practices.

DavidP24

puk999 wrote: »

I found I had some Standard Life shares recently from their demutualisation in 2006. They were registered with Capita stockbrokers. There were 4 outstanding dividend payments for the following amounts: £87.21, £46.45, £214.24 and £49.48. Cheques had been issued for these a while ago but never presented because I had moved house and they didn't know about my new address.

When I enquired about getting these dividends reissued to me they told me:

If you've been charged up to £40 each for the higher value cheques that seems quite high in comparison. I emailed them moaning about the charges and they halved them to £25.50 as a goodwill gesture.

Not sure if my experience helps you at all.

TYPICAL OF CAPITA

These are the same people who send out letters to people who have not claimed their demutual shares and charged a whopping 15% PLUS VAT but not told they do not have to pay.

and yet CAPITA are the same TV License goons you see on youtube who spend their days trying to con their way into people's houses without telling them they have no legal right to do so.

Even when you call the AVOID CAPITA number you get put through to the same sods who WILL CHARGE YOU and then when quizzed say "we are Capita, oh you did not say you did not want to be charged".

There must be a way to avoid these RIP OFF CHARGES ??