‘Nation has lost millions in bank accounts, unclaimed pensions and prizes’

The consumer group surveyed 1300 of its members in February and found eight per cent believe they have lost track of dormant bank accounts, three per cent said they have unclaimed pensions and 10 per cent have unclaimed Premium Bond prizes.

Which? said its estimates based on the results show the nation has £51 million in unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, £1 billion in dormant bank accounts and £400m in unclaimed pension savings.

Which? said while people can reclaim lost money, it is worth noting money from dormant bank accounts is donated to charity after 15 years.

It said typically, a current account will become dormant after a year of no activity and a savings account will become dormant after three years of no activity.

Which? said the provider will write to the customer asking if they want to keep the account open and if there is no reply the account will be marked as dormant.

National Savings and Investments will not deactivate Premium or Children’s Bonds without a customer’s authority, but if NS&I does not have up-to-date details they could miss out on a prize.