Sun, Sep 27, 2020 11:06 PM
Want To Start A Property Portfolio But Do Not Have Any Cash?
Want To Buy To Let & Ensure A Future Income Or Pension?
Want A Second Home In The Peace & Quiet Of The Country Away From The Rat Race?
Have you ever thought what you would do if you discovered hidden away money which is rightfully yours but you knew nothing about?
Seems like the stuff of dreams but in fact is a reality for many people. Why could you not be one of them? The good thing about tracing these lost fortunes is
YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF QUITE EASILY!!!!!
Keep reading and you will be shown how to do it . . .
BACKGROUND
Billions of pounds of unclaimed money is lying dormant in banks, building societies, pension plans and insurance policies.Although no one knows exactly how much this is an estimate of anything from£2 billion to £20 billion is not short of the mark. Strange as it may seem it appears the owners of the money appear to have forgotten about it.
The most common reasons for people losing touch with it are because they've moved house without informing the relevant institution or dying without making a Will. In fact, last year National Savings & Investment found that one in six people who had moved home in the previous 12 months had forgotten to give their financial providers their new address
A couple of years ago, the Chancellor of the Exchequer came up with the idea of using the billions of pounds lying in dormant savings accounts across theUK to help combat poverty.
The overall reaction was rather mixed, ranging from those who welcomed the idea of using money abandoned or forgotten to those who thought he had a cheek to think he could make off with other people's money regardless of whether they were dead or not. After all he already takes billions from us in taxes (which is mostly wasted on his “schemes”) so he should leave dormant money where it is.
Be this as it may the government set up the Commission for UnclaimedAssets to investigate the plan and last month they came up with the idea of a'Social Investment Bank' which would dish out grants and cheap loans using money from dormant accounts to charities and voluntary organisations working in disadvantaged communities.
The plan is under consultation at the moment but as it was welcomed by the government no doubt it'll be implemented any time soon. The worry will be that true beneficiaries may ultimately lose funds that they'd forgotten about.However, the Commission stated categorically that people should always be able to claim their assets, including any interest due, regardless of when they come forward to claim them.When clearing out the attic of your late grandmother's house you discover an old passbook for an account purporting to contain thousands of pounds that you knew nothing about, there'll be nothing to stop you from claiming it plus interest!!!
Eventually, with very little detective work it will be discovered by the rightful owner, which is only right and proper. They can then make whatever use they wish of the unexpected windfall. Investment in property is always the most rewarding and fruitful.
A few years ago Carol Vorderman presented a show on television called Find a Fortune in which she located lost monies through various sources and then sprung the surprise on unsuspecting beneficiaries. She used various sources but with the internet now at your disposal you don’t need a celebrity to track down any long lost assets languishing somewhere - start doing it yourself now . . .
You personally may vaguely recall paying into a savings or investment account, a life insurance policy or pension in the past, but have lost the paperwork and forgotten the company's name.You may believe that a deceased partner or relative may have forgotten to tell you about a life policy or pension. If you're not sure which institution to contact to find lost assets - read on
Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts
Banks tend to make accounts dormant when there have been no transactions for at least a year and where they have been unable to make contact with the holder of the account.
Building societies tend to wait for at least three years before putting the account on its separate register of dormant accounts.Both the Building Societies Association and the British Banking Association offer advice on their websites on tracing lost or dormant deposit accounts.You will need to fill in their standard claim form, answering as many questions as possible, indicating which banks you feel your account may be with and they'll circulate it to their members on your behalf.British Banking AssociationThe British Bankers' Association offers free tracing services to help you find lost accounts.
British Bankers' Association
Pinners Hall,
105-108 Old Broad Street,
London
EC2N 1EX
Switchboard: +44 (0) 20 7216 8800
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7216 8811
Building Societies Association
If you find an old passbook for a building society no longer on the high street,you can look up where the money has gone on the Association's website.
There is also available a leaflet which explains how The Building Societies Assocation (BSA) can help you trace savings you have lost touch with. It is also possible to trace another person's lost account if you are legally empowered to do so.
This FREE SERVICE applies to every building society in the UK and is covered by The Banking Code.
Lost Savings? How Building Societies help you find your lost savings which is available to download free in PDF format.
They also offer a service in respect of societies, which no longer exist
Where is my building society now?
This search facility will tell you what has happened to a building society that no longer exists and provides a link to its successor's website, where appropriate. If the society has been dissolved it means that it has ceased business and there is no successor body.
http://www.bsa.org.uk/generalpages/whereismybsnow.htm
Contact details
The Building Societies Association
6th Floor, York House
23 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6UJ
United Kingdom
Switchboard: 020 7520 5900
Consumer Information: 020 7520 5900
Fax: 020 7240 5290
Pensions
People who change jobs frequently or if your former employer changes names long after you've moved on it's surprisingly easy to 'lose' an occupational or personal pension. These “forgotten” schemes may have been frozen but still accumulating bonus, etc. without money still being invested. Each year this will increase without your knowledge.
Think very carefully about your previous jobs - can you vaguely remember mention of a pension scheme. You may have joined a scheme only for a comparatively short period of time.
The Pension Tracing Service carries details of almost 200,000 UK pension schemes, and offers a free tracing service for individuals and should have details of all the pensions listed in your name in the UK.
You can also visit their main site
https://www.gov.uk/browse/working
Contact:
The Department for Work and Pensions
Claiming your State Pension for the first time
Telephone: 0800 731 7898
Enquiries about State Pension or to report a change of circumstance
Telephone: 08456 060 265
Textphone: 0800 731 7339
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Shares and Dividends
It is a strange and wonderful fact that nearly 70,000 Alliance & Leicester customers have failed to claim shares worth £100 million since the society's demutualisation in 1997. Why? One wonders.
There are thousands more who have also failed to collect shares from other organisations which have gone public.
Do you think you may have a long-lost shareholding in a UK-listed firm? If so,contact the relevant company and ask for details of its registrars who can issue replacement share certificates and pay any unclaimed dividends.
If you don't know what the company is now called, get in touch with theLondon Stock Exchange who should be able to tell you if a listed company has been taken over, changed its name or if still exists.
London Stock Exchange web site http://www.londonstockexchange.com
Contact:
London Stock Exchange,
10 Paternoster Square,
London,
EC4M 7LS
London Stock Exchange Contact Us page Here
tel:+44 (0) 20 7797 1000
Stock Market Funds
Investment companies are rather fond of changing the names or closing down the funds you invest in - especially when they're not doing so well. If the company gets taken over it can be even more difficult to track down missing funds.
For unit trusts or OEICs, if you can at least remember the name of the original company and the fund you invested in, the industry's trade body, the Investment Management Association may be able to help.
In the case of investment trusts, you'll need to contact the following:-
The Association of Investment Trust Companies
Life Policies
The Association of British Insurers can help you to track down insurance companies that may have been the subject of a takeover and a change of name. Unfortunately, this will not help you trace individual policies. You'll have to do that yourself once you've found out the name of the relevant company. It may be easier to contact theUnclaimed Assets Register, which charge a fixed fee to search on your behalf.
Unclaimed Assets Register
The Unclaimed Assets Register is a unique search service that helps you find your lost assets and re-establish contact with financial institutions.
The Unclaimed Assets Register helps you recover lost or forgotten savings and investments.The Unclaimed Assets Register has a database of unclaimed life policies, pensions, unit trust holdings, and share dividends drawn from many companies.
The database is continually expanding and most financial institutions will eventually participate in it.
About Lost & Unclaimed Assets
Financial institutions usually make considerable efforts to find their customers,but lose contact with them for many reasons.
- People do not notify them of address changes.
- Customers forget about their investments, and that forgetfulness becomes permanent
- People make investments without telling their spouse. The surviving partner is unaware that funds are due to the estate.
- Companies change their names.
The Unclaimed Assets Register may be able to help you find lost assets if:
- You vaguely recall paying into a policy in the past, but have lost the paperwork and forgotten the company's name.
- You are recently bereaved, and believe your deceased partner or relative may have taken out a life policy or pension, but forgot to tell you about it.
- You are unsure which institution to contact to find lost assets.
Costs
The Unclaimed Assets Register charges a fixed fee for each search. This includes VAT and a contribution to charity.
The Unclaimed Assets Register does not take a percentage of any funds you recover.
Contact
Bain House
16 Connaught Place
London
W2 2ES
0844 481 81 80
Email us: [email protected]
National Savings
National Savings & Investments is currently sitting on well over £1 billion of unclaimed money. Part of it comes from unclaimed Premium Bond winnings but there are many savings accounts that are lying dormant too.
Tracing Service
National Savings and Investments
Blackpool
FY3 9YP
Telephone: 0500 007 007
Land
In the UK right now, (according to the official UK Land Registry), there are in excess of 7 million unregistered land plots and properties that may belong to you.
These are land plots and properties that the owners have simply neglected,abandoned or they don’t even know exist! Furthermore, the owner may have died intestate (i.e. without leaving a will).
These could be very difficult to trace but the first place to contact is the LandRegistry.
LAND REGISTRIES UK & Ireland
England & Wales
Land Registry & Registry of Deeds - Ireland
Land Registries of Northern Ireland
Scotland - this is slightly different.
Customer Service Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow can provide up-to-date information on land and property ownership and prices. A fee is chargeable for Search Services.
They can also provide copies of various title deeds to land and property.Services are also available on-line.
A detailed search covering ownership of land and property and the associated rights and conditions.
Given below are European Registers as many older Brits retire to Spain, etc.
Europe
- EULIS (European Land Information Service) - this site is not very up to date.
- Spain Land Registry
Also given below is information, which could be helpful:
- Land Information New Zealand
- Department of Land Information - Western Australia
- Australia - Canberra
Premium Bonds
There are more than half a million people who have won Premium Bonds prizes worth £30m.
One of the winners is losing out on £25,000 and another four have won£10,000. (See the table at the bottom of the page).
People often fail to pass on their new address to financial providers when they move house. Winners are notified in writing, so if your details on the NS&I database are out of date, you will not know whether you're a winner.
Premium Bonds prizes do not expire and the oldest unclaimed prize dates back to 1957
In total, 514,000 people in the UK have not claimed their Premium Bonds winnings. NS&I says there is £1.8bn of people's personal savings lying untouched in dormant NS&I accounts, including Premium Bonds. The amount dwarfs the £400m that is sitting in dormant bank and building society accounts.
You can check whether you're a winner by entering the Premium Bondholder's number in the prize checker on the NS&I website at www.nsandi.com.
Contact:
NS&I at Premium Bonds,
National Savings and Investments,
Blackpool,
FY39ZW
Now you have no excuse for losing track of your money or assets!
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I do hope you found this report as fascinating to read as I did researching it.
Please visit the site for lots more reports on everything to do with property.
Yours in success
Janice Hopkins
