Dormant Account - Abbey National

MattS1976

Hi all, hoping for some advice.

Was looking on MSE a month or so ago and read an article on dormant accounts and the mylostaccount website. I had an Abbey National account 25/30 years ago and can remember seeing the passbook loitering around the house for years with a last balance of £200 or so... i always assumed i would have cashed it out before i changed to the Band of Scotland many, many years ago (although thinking about it if i had i assume my passbook would have shown the withdrawal)..... anyway i registered my details with mylostaccount and a few weeks later got an email to say a dormant account had been found in my name with Abbey National and that Santander would contact me by mail with further information.

Received the letter today confirming a dormant account was found and to either visit a branch of Santander (which isn't logistically possible for me, a big part of the reason why i've never considered Santander for a current account) or to call the number on the letter in order to reactivate the account and receive more information.

So i called the number, gave my details and was advised 'no, sorry there's no account in your name'... i advised that it would be at an older address to the one on the letter and she put me on hold and came back 2 minutes later again with 'no, sorry there's no account in your name'... Tried giving her the reference from the letter, but she said she'd not be able to find anything from that... i read the opening part of the letter which said 'Using the information you have provided, we've found a dormant account open in the name of *** ** *****' and she just wasn't interested  Asked if there was an email address i could contact them on and was told they don't use emails, was told i could use live chat but only if i'm an account holder. Then was told its probably best if i send a letter. Basically she was as useless as an ejector seat in a helicopter.

So anyway not sure what else to do, does anyone have any suggestions? Surely in this day and age there must be an easier way to get information like this that having to write a letter or travel 40 miles to the nearest branch?

WillPS

You might well have to write a letter or visit a branch.

You say it's logistically impossible to hold an account there due distance from a branch, but do you literally never go somewhere there's a branch? Given this is a dormant account of many years it won't harm waiting a little longer surely. 

You could also try calling again to see if you get someone more helpful.

MattS1976

WillPS said:

You might well have to write a letter or visit a branch.

You say it's logistically impossible to hold an account there due distance from a branch, but do you literally never go somewhere there's a branch? Given this is a dormant account of many years it won't harm waiting a little longer surely. 

You could also try calling again to see if you get someone more helpful.

Thank you for responding... perhaps logistically 'impossible' is a slight exaggeration, it would be highly inconvenient, however you are correct that there really is no harm in waiting a little longer.

But i will try calling again tomorrow and hopefully can speak to someone more helpful.

xylophone

i changed to the Band of Scotland 

Bagpipes?

having to write a letter 

Now there's a task!

 How about taking a copy of the letter and putting your query in writing  (best to include details of the address you believe to have been registered on the  dormant account).

You could send recorded delivery if you wished.

The mention of dormant accounts reminds me of an experience in a building society queue many years ago.

The customer at the front was clearly much exercised by a problem locating her account and those of us who were unwilling  parties to the conversation gathered that it had probably gone dormant.

As the clerk endeavoured to deal with the matter ( taking advice from colleagues at the counter via phone calls to Head Office?), the queue grew longer and longer until one wag suggested "Let's all have a whip round and give her the money..."   light relief!

MattS1976

xylophone said:

i changed to the Band of Scotland 

Bagpipes?

having to write a letter 

Now there's a task!

 How about taking a copy of the letter and putting your query in writing  (best to include details of the address you believe to have been registered on the  dormant account).

You could send recorded delivery if you wished.

The mention of dormant accounts reminds me of an experience in a building society queue many years ago.

The customer at the front was clearly much exercised by a problem locating her account and those of us who were unwilling  parties to the conversation gathered that it had probably gone dormant.

As the clerk endeavoured to deal with the matter ( taking advice from colleagues at the counter via phone calls to Head Office?), the queue grew longer and longer until one wag suggested "Let's all have a whip round and give her the money..."   light relief!

I know, i know.... its not a hardship writing a letter... its just a very slow method of getting anything sorted and to be fair i wouldn't be surprised if there was nothing in the account...

Actually thats a point, does anyone know if dormant indicates that there would be money still in the account? Would an account of this age just be closed completely if it had no money in it?

boingy

Email the CEO's office. Explain the problem, describe the unhelpful experience with the Santander phone call and ask them to look into the missing account. If that doesn't work make a formal complaint. 

Email address here (and a pic of him!):
Santander CEO Email Address - Emailist

TheBanker

How long ago did you last use it? I think Santander close accounts after 15 years and send the money to a central fund which is used to support charities. It's still your money, and you can reclaim it via Santander, but that would explain why there's no account on throt live system.

I expect you will have to go to a branch as you'll need to present ID. They won't be able to complete telephone ID for an account that's been dormant for years.

Rob5342

I'd definitely give the number another try to see if you can get someone who is a bit more clued up. I've had occasions.where I've spent ages getting nowhere with one person on the phone, but tried again and got it solved instantly with someone else.

MalMonroe

A few years ago a friend of mine who had opened a savings account when she started working for the NHS at the age of 24, paid a couple of sums into it and then forgot about it, received notification that the account was now worth a sum of £18,560. She had moved address and had just retired from the NHS but they found her. She didn't even have to chase the money - didn't even remember she had the account.

So I think it is definitely worth chasing and trying to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. (Who doesn't use emails?!)

A letter to the big cheese (as my old boss was always saying!) wouldn't go amiss either. 

I think it's appalling that some organisations just won't try to help customers, be they 'old' or not. 

Good luck. It's a shame that you're going to have to dig a bit deeper but it could be worthwhile. 

TheBanker

MalMonroe said:

A few years ago a friend of mine who had opened a savings account when she started working for the NHS at the age of 24, paid a couple of sums into it and then forgot about it, received notification that the account was now worth a sum of £18,560. She had moved address and had just retired from the NHS but they found her. She didn't even have to chase the money - didn't even remember she had the account.

So I think it is definitely worth chasing and trying to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. (Who doesn't use emails?!)

A letter to the big cheese (as my old boss was always saying!) wouldn't go amiss either. 

I think it's appalling that some organisations just won't try to help customers, be they 'old' or not. 

Good luck. It's a shame that you're going to have to dig a bit deeper but it could be worthwhile. 

A bank won't use email to discuss a dormant account. How on earth would they verify they're talking to the right person? 

The OP hasn't said how long this account has been dormant for, but they said it was an Abbey National account so that's at least 13 years (Abbey National was re-branded as Santander in 2010). Abbey or Santander will have written to the customer before making their account dormant, but presumably the customer didn't receive the letter due to having moved and not told them.

As I mentioned above, the account has likely been closed and the balance paid over to the Dormant Assets Scheme. The account won't exist on their live systems any more. Given Abbey accounts were migrated to Santander's systems, maybe it has never existed in Santander's systems. Even if it did, they wouldn't be able to deal with this by telephone as they wouldn't be able to confirm the customer's identity.

The customer needs to go to a branch, as they've been advised to do. They need to take ID with them to prove who they are. Then this can be sorted out. They can try writing a letter, but the reply is likely to tell them to go to a branch with ID because they won't send account details or a cheque for the balance to an unknown address. 

Maybe the customer service agent could have explained things better, but in this case the customer has not really helped themselves by letting their account go dormant, and not keeping their contact details up to date. 

Rob5342

Regardless of the reasons behind the account becoming dormant, it's sheer incompetence if they tell you one thing in a letter but don't know what you are talking about when when you phone the same people that sent the letter.

You could try a branch I suppose but are staff in branches able to do anything these days?