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How to trace old bank accounts & lost money
Lots of us may have money lying in inactive accounts that we've forgotten about. But it's free and easy to find out whether you have an old bank account, insurance policy, pension or premium bond – so if you think this could apply to you, it's worth tracking down.
- How can an account become lost?
- How do I track down lost money in bank accounts or savings?
- How do I trace lost pensions?
- How do I trace lost stocks or shares?
- How do I track down lost insurance policies or accounts?
- How do I find lost premium bonds?
- How can I keep track of all my financial accounts?
- Can I track down lost accounts on behalf of someone else?
- Are there services that can search for all types of accounts?
How can an account become lost?
It’s easy to lose touch with one or more of your accounts. Perhaps you’ve moved addresses or you may have had an account opened for you as a child that you’ve forgotten about.
An account can be lost or marked as ‘inactive’ if:
- a financial institution hasn’t been able to contact you – usually because you’ve changed addresses and haven’t notified them of your new address, or
- there's been no activity, such as deposits or withdrawals, in your account for a few years.
Even if an account has been marked as inactive for several years, the money in it is still yours and you're entitled to claim it at any time.
How do I track down lost money in bank accounts or savings?
To track down lost money in bank accounts or savings, you can use My Lost Account. This is a free service that brings together three tracing schemes: UK Finance (UKF), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and National Savings and Investments (NS&I). This means that whether you've got a lost account with a bank, building society, or NS&I – or all three – you can search use My Lost Account to track it down. It can take up to 3 months for companies to complete their search.
Start the search online on the My Lost Account website
Do I have to complete the application form online?
No – you can print off the application forms from the My Lost Account website, or you can get in touch with them and request a paper copy to be sent to you.
However, it's important to know that paper applications take longer to process than online ones.
- For lost accounts with banks, or with building societies have become banks complete the UK Finance form. Download the UK Finance form (PDF, 1.5 MB).
- For lost accounts with current building societies, complete the Building Societies Association form. Download the BSA form (PDF, 1.3 MB).
- For lost National Savings and Investments products, complete the NS&I form. Download the NS&I form (PDF, 145 KB).
If you know which bank or building society held your account, get in touch with them and ask how you can make a claim. They may also have paper forms available.
In the video below, Jane Vass explains how you can find lost money and get help with claiming. In the second half of the video, Ian from London explains how easy it was to claim his lost premium bonds.
How do I trace lost pensions?
If you think you've got a lost pension, you can use GOV.UK to find contact details so that you can search for it. You can either find contact details for your own workplace or personal pension scheme, or for someone else's scheme – as long as you have their permission.
It's important to note that this service won't tell you whether you have a pension, or what its value is.
Find pension contact details on GOV.UK
You can also request contact details from the Pension Tracing Service by phone or by post. Call the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193 or write to them at the following address:
The Pension Service
Post Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1AF
United Kingdom
You can also use a free tracing service, such as Gretel.
How do I trace lost stocks or shares?
Companies are constantly evolving with mergers, takeovers or rebranding. This makes it difficult for shareholders to keep track of their investments.
You’ll need to contact companies directly. Companies keep records of all their shareholders and dividends and can issue new certificates.
If you don’t have any contact details, get in touch with one of the main share registrars. They can give you information about a company’s history and current contact details:
How do I track down lost insurance policies or accounts?
If you want to track down a lost insurance policy, you have a couple of options. You can either:
- Approach the company directly. If you can’t find the company’s contact details then contact their trade association.
- Contact the Association of British Insurers for up-to-date contact information for life insurance companies.
How do I find lost premium bonds?
How to go about finding lost premium bonds depends on your circumstances:
- If you’re not sure whether you have premium bonds, complete an application online using the free My Lost Account service.
- If you have premium bonds and want to check if you've won a prize, use NS&I’s online prize checker, or contact NS&I.
How can I keep track of all my financial accounts?
A good way to keep track of all your financial accounts is to make a list of the accounts and policies you have now. Make sure you keep all important paperwork in one place so you can find information and contact details easily when you need them in future.
Can I track down lost accounts on behalf of someone else?
You can only ask for a search to be done to track down someone else’s lost accounts if you're legally entitled to act on their behalf, for example if you're their attorney or an executor of their will. If you want to ask for a trace for more than one person, you’ll need to make a separate application for each person.
You should contact the relevant organisation listed above for more information, depending on what it is you’re tracking to track down.
Are there services that can search for all types of accounts?
Gretel is a service that launched in April 2022. It searches for all types of financial assets – including lost accounts, pensions, and investments. It's a completely free service, so it doesn't take a commission from the money that's found.
As Gretel is still fairly new, the financial institution that your money, account or investment is with may not be signed up to the service yet, so Gretel might not be able to find it at this time. However, new financial institutions are being added to the service all the time and Gretel will continue to search for your assets every two weeks – or until you ask it to stop. So if it doesn’t find your pension straight away, it may find it in the future.
When you sign up to Gretel it uses a soft search on your credit file to identify you, and match you with previous addresses. This won’t affect your credit score.
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