Up to £77BILLION sitting in forgotten accounts – how to claim back your share
BRITS are missing out on up to £77billion that's sitting in forgotten accounts, research has revealed.
The money has been left in places such as bank accounts and pensions as well as unclaimed lottery wins and lost insurance policies, but there are ways to claim back your share, even years later.
Carl Drummond, senior wealth planner at life insurance company Sanlam UK, has shared his best tips with The Sun.
If you think some of the forgotten money could be yours, the seven steps and places below are your best chances of getting an unexpected boost to your piggy bank.
Old bank and building society accounts
As we're less loyal to banks and building societies, this has increased the risk of losing money as we switch.
In fact, there is around £850million sitting unclaimed in British accounts, according to the Money Advice Service.
It covers over 30 banks and all 44 UK building societies and it will help you trace any lost personal accounts.
It is particularly useful in instances where a bank or building society has closed or merged.
Banks and building societies say they aim to respond within three months.
This lists any large unclaimed prizes and the site allows you to input numbers for Lotto, EuroMillions, ThunderBall, Lotto HotPicks and EuroMillions HotPicks.
After 180 days, any unclaimed prizes go to fund National Lottery Projects.
Child Trust Funds
Millions of parents could be missing out on up to £1,000 stashed away in a Child Trust Fund in their child's name.
Children born between 2002 and 2011 were given a government bonus of £250 each through the tax-free scheme when they were born, and then another £250 when the child reached the age of seven.
Lower income families would receive double the amount - adding to up to £1,000 in savings.
Yet millions have been classified as "addressee gone away", meaning they have not been claimed.
As a result, as much as £1billion could be lost, according to The Share Centre.
Pensions
We have an average of 11 jobs during our working lives, which makes it easy to lose track of employee pensions.
In fact, savers lose up to £300 a year from their pensions due to frequent job moves.
Meanwhile, personal pensions can get lost when you move house, change your name or don't update your personal details.
No wonder then that there is currently more than £5billion in forgotten pension schemes in the UK, according to the Pension Tracing Service.
Or you could also try the , which is another free service providing lots of useful tips, advice and search tools.
Premium Bonds
There are currently more than 1.5 million unclaimed Premium Bond prices worth more than £60million, according to the NS&I.
That could be useful to know, but most people will want to find out if those missing Premium Bonds have won a prize over the years.
The average Brit will waste more than £30,000 in their lifetime after losing track of monthly direct debits.
Meanwhile, London commuters have been urged to reclaim the £321million they've left unspent on Oyster cards.
Do you shop at Tesco? Here's how to reclaim your lost Tesco Clubcard points.
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