CASS system doesn't work with dormant accounts

cupid07

During covid, my local bank closed down and now my nearest one is about 20 miles away. I thought i'd use the cass system to close the account but apparently this cannot be done. I didn't actually realise it had gone dormant but after 3 years it had. It would actually cost me more to make the journey to and from the bank to show my ID than whats actually in the account. Is there any other ways I can close it? I thought the cass might be one way of doing it, are there any other more convenient ways?

flaneurs_lobster

Which bank and what kind of account?

Do you have, or could you get, online access?

lr1277

I found writing to the bank can work. If there is money left in the account, ask them  to close the account and send you a cheque for any remaining amounts.

retiredbanker1

An account is marked as dormant for a reason.
If you have not used the account for 3 year or more and it is not worth you going 20 miles to sort it - forget about it. Eventually after 15 years it will go to the Government.

eskbanker

retiredbanker1 said:

Eventually after 15 years it will go to the Government.

But only provisionally, i.e. the money can still be reclaimed by its rightful owner:

The Government set up the Dormant Assets Scheme in 2011 to reunite people with lost cash that's been left untouched for 15 years or more. Under the scheme, if an asset's deemed to be dormant and can't be reunited with its owner, it can be transferred to the Reclaim Fund and used to fund environmental and community projects around the UK.

The scheme expanded in February 2022 and again August 2024 to include certain assets from the pensions, insurance, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors, as well as cash in banks and buildings societies.

Participation in the scheme is voluntary, so not all financial organisations are part of it – but all major high street banks and building societies have signed up. The first priority for any company taking part in the scheme is to try to reunite customers with their lost assets.

The money can only be transferred to the Reclaim Fund if it isn't possible to reunite lost assets with their owner. And even after the money has been transferred, owners are still able to reclaim at any time what they would've been owed.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/reclaim-lost-assets-free/

Ergates

cupid07 said:

During covid, my local bank closed down and now my nearest one is about 20 miles away. I thought i'd use the cass system to close the account but apparently this cannot be done. I didn't actually realise it had gone dormant but after 3 years it had. It would actually cost me more to make the journey to and from the bank to show my ID than whats actually in the account. Is there any other ways I can close it? I thought the cass might be one way of doing it, are there any other more convenient ways?

Nobody can provide meaningful help with the information you've provided.   At the very least we'd need to know which bank it is.

But I'd suggest your first step should be to phone up the bank in question and ask them what you need to do.

Rob5342

You can usually do it in the app, or failing that by writing to them. Doesn't their website tell you how to do it? 

EarthBoy

I've got a dormant savings account with the Halifax with just 1p in it. I get regular reminders on the app to contact them and have the account reactivated, but it's just not worth ringing for 1p, let alone going into a branch.