All is not lost if you mislay your papers

FT.com 14/07/2006

If you’ve ever moved house and haven’t managed to keep track of information on your financial dealings you could be one of the thousands of people who have money in forgotten accounts. As much as £15bn is thought to be languishing in forgotten and unclaimed accounts around the UK.

This week the Commission for Unclaimed Assets, an independent body set up by the government to channel money in dormant bank accounts towards good causes, said this money should be used to fund a “social investment bank” to help charities and voluntary groups in Britain’s poorest communities.

The issue of unclaimed assets was also brought to light by revelations from Standard Life that some 320,000 members have yet to claim their windfalls following this week’s stock market flotation which has resulted in the company leaving £300m of policyholders’ money in a trust.

The trust is made up of cash and shares and members will have 10 years to claim their windfalls. In the meantime the shares in the trust will attract their full dividends and bonus shares.

The life company said it has sent follow-ups in plain envelopes, and on the back of brightly coloured postcards to let policyholders know about the windfalls. But it said it is harder to track down members who have moved house without registering a change of address, or those who are not aware of the type of policy they have taken out.

The issue of unclaimed shares at Standard Life is mirrored across most financial institutions with millions of pounds in unclaimed assets in pensions, savings products, life policies, national savings and lotteries.

“In most cases, investors simply lose track of shares and dividends when they move house or change names and forget to tell the relevant company registrars,” says Keith Hollander, managing director at the Unclaimed Assets Register, (www.uar.co.uk) which will search for lost financial products due to you for a fee of £18.50.

He says the good news is that unclaimed money – which includes around £3bn of windfall shares in listed mutuals – is not necessarily lost. Registrars must hang on to such unclaimed money for 12 years.

It is reasonably easy to reclaim lost shares and dividends if you know which company’s shares you own. The company will tell you how to contact their registrars. You can then ask the registrars to send you your share certificates (for a small fee) and any dividends.

It is more tricky if you do not know which company’s shares you hold, because, say, it has changed its name. In the past six years, nearly half the companies that were in the FTSE 100 have changed their names or been taken over. But if you have the name of the original company, a search on the internet will turn up something relating to it.

If you have the original share certificate you can contact Companies House or the London Stock Exchange. Both have company records going back to the 19th century and will do a free search. But it is more difficult if you are not sure what shares you can lay claim to because, say, a benefactor kept poor records of what they owned.

UAR logs life policies, personal pensions, dividends and unit trusts. It will widen the service to include occupational pensions and dormant bank and building society accounts.
Alternatively, those who think they have mislaid National Savings Certificates or lost out on a Premium Bond prize should contact National Savings.

You can track your entitlement to money from an occupational pension scheme by calling the Pension Schemes Registry and if you want to track a lost bank or building society account go to the British Bankers Association at www.bba.org.uk.

Before you begin your search, find as much information about your lost account as you can. It could be time for a good rummage behind the sofa.