How To Recover Your Lost Assets

There are literally billions of pounds left in forgotten accounts. Here's how to retrieve your money.

According to The Unclaimed Assets Register (UAR) we've lost trace of more than £15 billion of assets in the UK. That's equivalent to roughly £250 for every single person in the country. If you've got a sneaking suspicion there's cash trapped in a neglected account which is rightfully yours, there's plenty you can, and should, do to track it down. But before we take a look at practical steps to reunite you with your missing cash, here's an idea of just how much is waiting to be reclaimed by you:Estimated Unclaimed Assets In The UKAsset£ MillionsDormant Accounts£5,000Pensions£3,000Shares and Dividends£3,000National Savings£3,000Life Policies£1,000Lotteries and Other£300Total£15.3 billionSource: The Unclaimed Assets RegisterThat's a pretty enormous chunk of forgotten money. Even if you think the amount involved may be fairly insignificant, it's still worth checking out. You might be pleasantly surprised. Most companies generally go to considerable lengths to trace their customers but if contact has been lost you may be able to recover your misplaced assets using a tracking service. Tracking servicesThe UAR is a database which can help you salvage your lost cash. It's a one stop shop which traces multiple products including pensions, shares, savings and life policies. Even if you've misplaced all your paperwork and you can't quite remember the name of the company concerned, the UAR may be able to assist you. But there's one drawback: an £18 fixed fee for every search carried out on your behalf, with 10% of that charge donated to charity. Other tracking services can provide free assistance. Directgov has recently launched a free pension tracing service which provides access to a vast database of over 200,000 personal and occupational pension schemes. Their research reveals that more than half of UK adults don't keep track of their pension savings and have no idea how much money they've accumulated in various plans. And the problem looks like worsening as people are changing jobs more frequently throughout their careers.Meanwhile the British Bankers' Association's (BBA) campaign to help consumers reclaim lost funds is already in full swing. So far this year 200,000 people have visited the BBA's website for guidance on recovering so-called `dormant' (unused) accounts. Dormant accounts refers to those which have been inactive for an extended period and the bank running the account has been unable to make contact with the account holder. To prevent fraud or ID theft once an account has been declared dormant it can no longer be operated. Many people lose track of accounts when they move home but forget to inform all the banks they save with. It doesn't matter how old the account is or how small you think the balance may be. Even if the bank has changed its name in the interim the BBA could still help. Under recent Government proposals, money which has been left in dormant accounts for more than fifteen years will be moved into a Central Reclaim Fund where it'll be used to finance community projects. But even after this has happened your money can still be retrieved using the appropriate tracking service. Useful ContactsThe Unclaimed Assets Register - call 0870 241 1713 or visit http://www.uar.co.uk/.Directgov Pension Tracing service - call 0845 6002 537 or visit http://www.direct.gov.uk/.Occupational Pensions - call the Pensions Tracing Service on 0845 600 2537 or visit http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/. Dormant Building Society Accounts - call 020 7437 0655 or click hereDormant Bank Accounts - call 020 7216 8909 or visit http://www.bba.org.uk/. National Savings and Premium Bonds - call 0845 964 500 or visit http://www.nationalsavings.co.uk/.More: Let's Claim Our £435 Million Back!