Leaving bank account open

Once 15 years have passed, banks can make the money available to good causes via the government scheme set up for this purpose: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-dormant-accounts-scheme

The customer has the right to reclaim the money at any point, but if the bank is unable to contact the account holder then the onus is on the latter to do something about it.

lindabea wrote: »

The reason I'm asking is that a friend has a savings account with halifax with zero bal. Not used it for over 4 years. Anyway, he went to Halifax to close the account, asked him for ID... fair enough, so he showed them his driving license. Not satisfied with just being shown the id, they wanted to key in the details on their system. He refused and walked out leaving the account open. He has no intention of using it, but wondering what will happen.

He's presumably still contactable at this stage but it's all a moot point if it's a savings account with a zero balance, as I believe it'll just sit there as a dormant account ad infinitum, without appearing on his credit files (unlike a current account).

lindabea wrote: »

I must admit, I don't see any reason for Halifax to record his DL details. I have closed accounts before, and never been asked for ID, let alone recording them on their system. Does this sound like a strange practice?

I'm no expert in KYC requirements relating to ID verification but do believe that banks interpret them in different ways, and it's always difficult to make valid comparisons between the experiences of different people, as accounts may have been opened at varying times, before or after changes to ID verification regimes, and so on. There's a board guide and regular poster on this board who works in a Halifax branch as I recall, so they may be able to offer some insight into the processes concerned, but personally I wouldn't be unduly alarmed if presenting ID and having it recorded/copied....