Lloyds TSB seeks out dormant account holders

by Gill Montia

Story link: Lloyds TSB seeks out dormant account holders

Lloyds TSB is embarking on a quest to find its dormant account holders.

The bank has around 120,000 accounts, containing a total of £69 million, which have not seen any activity for at least 15 years.

The average amount held is £575 but 10% of the accounts, which are both personal and business, contain more than £1,000.

Tracing agency, Tracesmart, is being employed to track down account holders and the campaign will be supported by advertisements.

Customers of Cheltenham & Gloucester, the bank’s mortgage division, will be included in the search.

It is estimated that up to £1 billion could be contained in UK dormant accounts and the Government has plans to use what it describes as “genuinely unclaimed” assets in community projects.

A new community fund will be initiated during 2009 and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The Treasury says it will limit its use of such funds to accounts where there has been no customer-initiated activity for at least 15 years.

However, should an account holder come forward at any time they will be able to reclaim their money.

In January of this year a website was launched to help consumers reclaim dormant savings.

Mylostaccount.org.uk allows people to trace overlooked or abandoned bank, building society or National Savings and Investment accounts.

Lloyds TSB says it will be happy to advise dormant account holders on investment opportunities for their recovered wealth.