will my account become dormant

1socrates1

Hi,

I am thinking of traveling abroad for a year. I am wondering if my bank account will become dormant or not? I will potentially have rent paid to it plus voluntary NI contributions paid out etc. If I use my debit card overseas during this time would that count?

RickyC_IFSWP

I think you should be ok. Why don't you notify your bank too, just so you don't have problems accessing the account from abroad?

1socrates1

Thanks I will do so

Porcupine

Dormant usually means no transactions for several years, so you should be fine.
Even if it is, the letter usually says something like 'make a transaction in the next 2 months to prevent it going dormant', which you'd probably do anyway.

Vortigern

Porcupine wrote: »

Dormant usually means no transactions for several years, so you should be fine.
Even if it is, the letter usually says something like 'make a transaction in the next 2 months to prevent it going dormant', which you'd probably do anyway.

I had a Co-op current account which had a balance of £0.00 from March 2012 till July 2013. There were no transactions between those dates. The account was marked as dormant on my credit file.

The bank did not advise me that it had become dormant. I transferred some money in to awaken the account, then switched to another bank

Porcupine

Vortigern wrote: »

I had a Co-op current account which had a balance of £0.00 from March 2012 till July 2013. There were no transactions between those dates. The account was marked as dormant on my credit file.

Being dormant on your credit file is different from being dormant as far as the bank is concerned. If the bank decides it's dormant, they will lock the account and stop sending you cards, etc. You won't be able to use it, and you'll have to apply to the bank to unlock it. All the money in there is still yours, it's to minimise the risk of fraud from accounts where the accountholder isn't paying attention.

Credit files are about lenders seeing what banking relationships you have - if it's deemed to be dormant then evidently you don't have a regular banking relationship.

The bank did not advise me that it had become dormant. I transferred some money in to awaken the account, then switched to another bank

So evidently it wasn't dormant, since you could still use it.