 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Media centre /
Press releaseTHE FORGOTTEN CASH THAT'S UP FOR GRABS11 November 2003NS&I urges savers to step up and claim forgotten money left in savings accounts and certificates Photography and case studies available British savers are being urged to come forward and claim some of the £1.5 billion currently lying dormant in National Savings and Investments (NS&I) Fixed Interest and Index-linked Savings Certificates, the Investment Account and the Ordinary Account. This money becomes dormant because people move house and don't tell their financial provider their new address; they sometimes forget where and also that they have particular savings and investments; or people die and their surviving relatives are not aware of their personal finances. Two years ago this week NS&I, the government-backed savings and investments provider, launched its free tracing service, designed to reunite people with money they may have forgotten about over the years and, so far, NS&I has traced over £7.8 million for more than 10,000 people throughout the world. But there is still a vast amount of cash held by NS&I, waiting to be reunited with its rightful owners. Over the years, customers have lost touch with:
There is no time limit on claiming any lost or forgotten funds with NS&I because they remain the property of the customer and - using NS&I's free tracing service - can be claimed back at any time. The tracing service form, available from 0845 964 5000 or at www.nsandi.com, needs to be completed in as much detail as possible including previous addresses and returned to NS&I. The customer will be contacted once the trace has been completed, usually within one month. Huge national problem The problem of dormant accounts is faced by the entire financial services industry and research1 by NS&I has found that when people move home, one in seven forgets to tell their financial provider their new address. Without a current address, financial providers cannot stay in touch with their customers. British savers and investors could be neglecting around £11 billion in savings and investments each year - a potential £16,000 per person2 - because they forget to tell their financial providers when they move home, and National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is urging people to come forward and claim what is rightfully theirs. Paul Knight, head of sales development at NS&I, said: "Although we have managed successfully to reunite many customers with a fairly significant amount of money, we remain the custodians of substantial forgotten assets which belong to savers and investors throughout Britain. "People work hard to save and it is rather sad that, over the years, they have literally just walked away from their money when they moved house or simply have forgotten where they have put their savings. We want people to come forward and collect what belongs to them. There's no time limit on claiming lost or forgotten savings, so people who think they may have moved house and not told us and may have lost touch with their money should take advantage of this free service." Tracing service facts
Product history The Ordinary Account is NS&I's oldest savings account, introduced in 1861 under Gladstone's government. It was designed to encourage people to save on a regular basis. Fixed Interest Savings Certificates were launched in February 1916 and are still available to buy. They offer a tax-free return and are available in 2 and 5-year terms. The Investment Account, a popular 30-day notice savings account, was launched in 1966, and Index-linked Savings Certificates, which offer tax-free returns that beat inflation, were introduced in June 1975. ENDS Notes to Editors1. Research carried out by TNS PhoneBus, 2 - 4 May 2003 among 1,009 adults aged 16+. Respondents were asked "Have you moved home in the last 12 months?", "When you moved home, did you forget to forward your new address to any organisation that you have savings, investments or another financial product with?" and "Have you ever forgotten to forward your new address to any organisation that you have savings, investments or another financial product with?" 2. Calculations: In the last year 11% have moved home and 14% of these forget to tell all their financial providers their new address. The amount of savings on deposit in the country totals £740 billion (ONS Financial Statistics). Therefore: 11% x 14% x £740 billion = £11.4 billion. Potentially, an average of £11.4 billion savings are becoming dormant every year across the financial services industry. The GB adult population is 46 million (16 and above: 2000 population predictions). Therefore: 11% x 46 million = 5.06 million adults move each year. 14% x 5.06 million = 708,400 people losing touch with their money every year. Therefore: £11.4 billion / 708,400 = £16,092. Potentially, an average of £16,092 is being left behind by those who forget to tell all of their financial providers their new address. 3. Regional data
Key 4. For details of tracing service case studies and new photographs in hi-res jpeg format, contact the NS&I Media and PR team.
Media team The numbers below are for media use only. Customers wishing to contact NS&I can find details here.
|
|
Search |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
