ProSearch Letter Help

_Daisy_

Hi, my mum has been sent a letter from ProSearch saying the 'Santander Nominee Service wants to reunite you with your lost assets' It says small estate declaration, small estate markets in financial instruments directive. It's about some small shares my dad had - he died in 1990 and my mum is next of kin. 

I've read that ProSearch charge 10% fees. Is there any other way to get these shares paid back without using ProSearch and having to pay the fees? The letter says I've got until the 18th to send them all that they want and the death certificate etc. I'm not sure what to do about it as I'd still need to get a copy of the death certificate anyway. My mum could do with the little money it is but I'm unsure what to do. Any help would be really great. 

CliveOfIndia

Sounds very much like all of these "ambulance chaser" firms - they charge a fee for doing nothing more than what you can easily do yourself.

You make reference to Santander - is it Santander shares that your dad had?  If so, the simplest is to get in contact with Santander and ask them.  It may take a little bit of digging around to find the right department to talk to, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

SiliconChip

Santander might be able to help, but I imagine it'll be tricky to get hold of someone who will be able to offer an answer as front line staff won't have a clue. A better option would be to contact the registrars for Santander Nominee Service, Equiniti. See contact details on this page:

https://www.santander.co.uk/about-santander/shareholders

LightFlare

10% may be a very acceptable price to pay for something that you weren’t aware of - purely just the possible hassle of dealing with something that is > 30 years old

Boohoo

Try this link.

https://www.shareview.co.uk/4/Info/Portfolio/santanderhelp/en/home/Pages/Santander_Nominee_Service.aspx

I don't know when Santander were set up in the UK but I thought it was after 1990.

Maybe the bought some other financial institution that your dad had shares in?

user1977

Boohoo said:

Try this link.

https://www.shareview.co.uk/4/Info/Portfolio/santanderhelp/en/home/Pages/Santander_Nominee_Service.aspx

I don't know when Santander were set up in the UK but I thought it was after 1990.

Maybe the bought some other financial institution that your dad had shares in?

Did any of their predecessors (Abbey National / Alliance & Leicester / Bradford & Bingley, if I've got that right) issue shares on demutualisation which ended up converted into Santander shares? Can't remember. Or possibly a compulsory purchase of shares following a takeover but there's an uncashed cheque to be claimed?

That all happened post-1990 though so I suspect it's the result of an old building society account somewhere.

eskbanker

user1977 said:

Boohoo said:

Try this link.

https://www.shareview.co.uk/4/Info/Portfolio/santanderhelp/en/home/Pages/Santander_Nominee_Service.aspx

I don't know when Santander were set up in the UK but I thought it was after 1990.

Maybe the bought some other financial institution that your dad had shares in?

Did any of their predecessors (Abbey National / Alliance & Leicester / Bradford & Bingley, if I've got that right) issue shares on demutualisation which ended up converted into Santander shares? Can't remember. Or possibly a compulsory purchase of shares following a takeover but there's an uncashed cheque to be claimed?

That all happened post-1990 though so I suspect it's the result of an old building society account somewhere.

Abbey National issued shares on demutualisation in 1989 (same for Alliance & Leicester in 1997), which would have been converted to Banco Santander shares on acquisition in the 2000s.  The above link includes reference to this:

Santander does not issue certificates like the one you may have held with your Abbey National or Alliance and Leicester shares.