Dormant Account - Abbey National

Rob5342

Have you tried chatting to them in the app? Even if you don't bank with them you could open a savings account and put a few pounds in it just to get access to the chat feature. It seems ridiculous to suggest that but it might be easier than having all the hassle of going to a branch.

username

What's the betting you'll end up talking to a chat robot, and not getting any further ahead? Years ago the live chats used to be answered by real people, but a lot of places now use AI or some robot with pre programmed responses, which is frustrating.

The phone operatives (depending on whether they are employed by the bank or outsourced) will only really have access to the computer systems to be able to service everyday queries or not have sufficent access to what I like to call 'the crypt' - i.e. the mainframe (or legacy system) in every organisation that is probably holding all the previous forgotten accounts from the other mergers that only certain people have access to.

Fair point about the instructions on the letter, it is pointless for all concerned - the client and the operator on the phone for the letter to drive you to calling as a method of action. No doubt the copy of the letter was written by someone in marketing/communications who doesn't have an idea of the processes or who doesn't have access to what.

Sometimes the in person touch can get things fixed. No-one likes taking time out of their day to deal with such administrativia, but if it is the only way to get a response or a resolution, then so be it. I would rather that than spend ages going round in circles on the phone or online, and also, being in person it is harder for them to get rid of you.

TheBanker

MattS1976 said:

TheBanker said:

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. 

Thanks for your response, i did say in my original post that it was around 25/30 years ago, i've moved home about 6 times since i first opened this account so it's probably likely they did try to contact me about it but i never got it.

The letter i received was directly from Santander advising that they had found a dormant account in my name so they definitely have a record of it.

The letter also stated 'For security details we cannot give specific details in this letter, however if you go into your nearest Santander branch with this letter, or call us on the number at the top of this letter, we can reactivate the account and give you more information'. If its not something they can deal with over the phone then they shouldn't be stating this on their letter surely?

Maybe i haven't helped myself by letting the account go dormant and not updating my contact details however this account was my first account after leaving school and i'd stopped using it by the time i was around 20 so perhaps i was just young and naive. 

If they told you to call then couldn't help, I agree that is poor.

Without excusing this, there are two types of dormant account. Ones that are on the live system with a dormant account block (which can be re-activated if the customer passes ID checks), and ones that are no longer on the live system. They will be in an archive system somewhere. These can't be reactivated but the bank will return the balance to the account holder once they've completed their ID checks.

I expect given the length of time your account is in the second group. I would be surprised if it was ever migrated to the Santander systems given what you've said about the length of time.

So I would suggest either they have a standard letter which refers to phoning because that will work for some (most?) customers, or they've sent the wrong letter... Not making excuses, just trying to help explain what may have happened. 

Even if a telephone agent could locate your account, I think you would need to take ID to a branch (or maybe post it to them, or upload copies - not sure what Santander's requirements are). There is no way a telephone agent would be able to complete sufficient security to release funds from an account that's been dormant for three decades.

Rob5342 said:

I bet if it was an old credit card you owed money on there would be no problem in finding it!

If it was a 30 year old credit card debt, there would be no point in finding it. It would have been statute barred decades ago. 

sheramber

Try contacting the complaints tram

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

WBCPB

I used ceo@santander.co.uk recently and within 4 hours of sending i received a fone call from their "senior complaints team" giving me the name of my personal complaint handler and the exact time to expect the call, all went as promised and my complaint was sorted during my designated call, so it does work!

eskbanker

sheramber said:

Try contacting the complaints tram

I know some banks use mobile banking vans in remote areas but that's a new one on me 🚋

Rob5342

sheramber said:

Try contacting the complaints tram

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

This is a good suggestion, and if you don't get a satisfactory response you could escalate it to the financial ombudsman service. In this day and age it's unreasonable to expect someone to go to a branch.

My own experience with PayPal and Nationwide is that they only provide generic contact details and th people you first speak to are pretty clueless about anything other than th most routine enquiries, but when you eventually get in contact with someone on the inside they can sort things properly.

TheBanker

Rob5342 said:

sheramber said:

Try contacting the complaints tram

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

This is a good suggestion, and if you don't get a satisfactory response you could escalate it to the financial ombudsman service. In this day and age it's unreasonable to expect someone to go to a branch.

My own experience with PayPal and Nationwide is that they only provide generic contact details and th people you first speak to are pretty clueless about anything other than th most routine enquiries, but when you eventually get in contact with someone on the inside they can sort things properly.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask someone to go into a branch to claim the balance of an account that was opened in a branch 30+ years ago and has been neglected since. I hope this is resolved without the need for a complaint, but if a complaint is made I am not sure the FOS will find it unreasonable to ask the customer to go to the branch. 

boingy

TheBanker said:

Rob5342 said:

sheramber said:

Try contacting the complaints tram

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

This is a good suggestion, and if you don't get a satisfactory response you could escalate it to the financial ombudsman service. In this day and age it's unreasonable to expect someone to go to a branch.

My own experience with PayPal and Nationwide is that they only provide generic contact details and th people you first speak to are pretty clueless about anything other than th most routine enquiries, but when you eventually get in contact with someone on the inside they can sort things properly.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask someone to go into a branch to claim the balance of an account that was opened in a branch 30+ years ago and has been neglected since. I hope this is resolved without the need for a complaint, but if a complaint is made I am not sure the FOS will find it unreasonable to ask the customer to go to the branch. 

You are correct and I'm sure if the letter sent to the OP had only said "go to a branch" they would have done so but it also gave them a phone number to ring and then they said they couldn't help, which is bizarre. Branches these days have very little autonomy so I would not be hopeful that they would be able to sort it either. 

I think in this case the hope is that any complaint might get through to someone who can investigate the issue rather than it reaching the FOS stage, the FOS being mostly toothless anyway. These days all large business make it very difficult to get past the underpaid, undertrained call centre staff. 

Rob5342

TheBanker said:

Rob5342 said:

sheramber said:

Try contacting the complaints tram

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

This is a good suggestion, and if you don't get a satisfactory response you could escalate it to the financial ombudsman service. In this day and age it's unreasonable to expect someone to go to a branch.

My own experience with PayPal and Nationwide is that they only provide generic contact details and th people you first speak to are pretty clueless about anything other than th most routine enquiries, but when you eventually get in contact with someone on the inside they can sort things properly.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask someone to go into a branch to claim the balance of an account that was opened in a branch 30+ years ago and has been neglected since. I hope this is resolved without the need for a complaint, but if a complaint is made I am not sure the FOS will find it unreasonable to ask the customer to go to the branch. 

Maybe I didn't phrase that very well. What I meant is that if that they can't reasonably get to a branch any time soon then a complaint may be worthwhile as it could get it past the general call handlers. If it still can't be resolved and they still can't get to a branch then they could escalate it to the FOS. If there was a branch down the road then obviously it would make sense to try that first, but if you they can't reasonably get to one for a few months then a complaint would be worth trying.

That said a bank should be able do everything without you having to visit a branch. You can open accounts, get loans etc all online, often by uploading I'd or with the bank checking it electronically. If they can determine your identity well enough for those purposes then they should be able to determine it well enough to give you the.money from an old account.