Whilst having a clear out the other day, I came across an Abbey National bank card, more than 20 years out of date. I realised it pertained to a savings account I used to use, which I had completely forgotten about. This made me wonder if anything was in it, and if so, how would I go about finding out and reactivating the account?
I did a bit of googling, and came across these people:
www.mylostaccount.org.uk/
I logged on and completed their forms, and, lo and behold, I received an email a few weeks later telling me that Santander had matched my details and indeed, there is a dormant account in my name. Subsequently, Santander have written to me asking me to go to a branch with photo ID, whereupon I shall be reunited with my account. Excellent!
I'm about to get on a bus to town to visit a branch, so would anyone care to guess how much is in the account after 20 years of inactivity and fluctuating interest rates? It's not likely to be enough to pay off the mortgage or buy a new car, but though it would be fun to see if anyone can get close in pounds (hopefully there are pounds in it) and pennies. I'm guessing I left the account with less than 10 pounds in it at the time (if it was any more I'd surely have used the bank card to withdraw it from a cashpoint), but seriously can't remember now. Virtual pint to the nearest guesser.
I also had a recollection about my grandmother buying me Premium Bonds in the 1970s, so I've also sent off a form enquiring about that. Haven't heard anything from them, so I suppose they're hanging on to the interest from my multiple million pound wins as long as they can. ;-)
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Assuming it was £10, then £11.05
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>> Assuming it was £10, then £11.05
>
That would be fairly miserable rate of interest. 2.5% interest would make it £16.39 after 20 years
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>> >> Assuming it was £10, then £11.05
>> >
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>> That would be fairly miserable rate of interest. 2.5% interest would make it £16.39 after
>> 20 years
Its a dormant account and carries about 0.05%
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£250, if it was paying a reasonable rate of interest to begin with, but has been on variable rates since?
Edit: £14, i.e. 2% simple interest p.a. over 10 years, plus £10 principal...damn those decimal points! :-)
Last edited by: Gromit on Fri 8 Feb 13 at 11:33
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Minus £237,000,000,000, as they've offloaded their bad debts onto your account in some complicated swap scheme.
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£13.16
How do I claim my prize?
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£2.71, as the interest earned will worthless.
I'll settle for 10% of your premium bond winnings as my prize.
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I've had two since the 60s and have never won a bean!
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Admin charges mean you owe them £35.
And the handling fee for closing a dormant account is...
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bathtub tom is the winner! The life changing sum I have just collected on closing the account is................
£1.72.
ETA - tom got the right numbers, but in the wrong order! What are the odds.
I'll decline your kind offer of 10% of my premium bond winnings though, if it's all the same.
Zero was on the right track - the account has been dormant a long time, the rate of 0.05% was applied to it a long time ago, and therefore it has not accrued enough interest to enable them to add anything to it.
Good job I can use a free shuttle bus to town from work, or I may have been out of pocket!
:-)
Last edited by: Alanović on Fri 8 Feb 13 at 12:56
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>> ETA - tom got the right numbers, but in the wrong order! What are the
>> odds.
1 in 13, obviously :)
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>> bathtub tom is the winner! The life changing sum I have just collected on closing
>> the account is................
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>> £1.72.
>
i reckon you left one stinking miserable measly single quid in it just to stop it being closed, it probably cost them more in admin to get the money out
Nice one!
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 8 Feb 13 at 14:04
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Happen you're right there, Zero.
The (very young looking) staff were very cheerful, chatty and helpful though. Not sure I'd want to entrust more than £1.72 to them, however. There was a woman slumped asleep in one of their comfy chairs in the branch, and none of them went to check she was ok/alive. I was about to do so when she woke up, looked around, and went back to sleep. Stay classy, Reading.
ETA: they did have to post me a letter about the account, so that's 60p I cost them at least.
Last edited by: Alanović on Fri 8 Feb 13 at 14:08
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Didnt HM Gov, Gordie Brown I think, have a plan to seize, and spend all money in dormant bank accounts, and you would need full details in triplicate and apply to HM gov for a refund with no interest?
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I had a couple of bank accounts (savings type ones) that were no longer needed. Interest rates were naff and I have other accounts. One of these dates back over 17 years. I closed them this week at last to tidy up my online banking. One account had 11 pence and the other 27 pence.
Now to get my 11 pence I had to put in £1 (online account and you minimum £1 transfers) and then take out £1.11. Otherwise my 11p would have ended up in a pot at the bank when the account was closed :-)
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>> Didnt HM Gov, Gordie Brown I think, have a plan to seize, and spend all
>> money in dormant bank accounts, and you would need full details in triplicate and apply
>> to HM gov for a refund with no interest?
Yes he did.
I suppose Gord's view was that the taxpayer was just as entitled to it as the bank, if not more so.
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 8 Feb 13 at 16:15
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Guess the amount in the dormant account - BobbyG
