What constitutes a "dormant" account?

Primrose

In view of dear Gordon's intention to comandeer dormant accounts (those unused for 15 yeas) in the future, can anybody please tell me exactly what are the criteria for a dormant account ? I read elsewhere on here that somebody had been told that their Brittania account would be regarded as dormant if money had not been withdrawn within a specific period and that paying money into it didn't count. My understanding was that it was an account with no activity, either money being paid in, or being withdrawn, but as interest is added annually, maybe the activity has to be "customer generated". Has anybody clarified this with any of their savings providers?

PBA

http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=144&a=501
The important thing to note is the bank will write to you before making the account dormant. They can then only make it dormant if you don't reply.

MattB_4

Banks and Building Societies will have a different view of what is a dormant account. However they wont be giving the government your money unless they really have to.

thebeak

If this does happen I think the money should by virtue go to some ethical use. Afterall the government haven't had to do anything for this money, and most probably they have been getting the tax from the interest all the years it has been dormant. I bet the banks love dormat accounts as they are so old that the interest rates on the old accounts will probably be under 1%.

Kaz64_2

Thanks for this thread. I have a dormant account in the A+L, so now I can bring it back to life with any luck!