There’s only one month left to find forgotten cash and pensions via the register of unclaimed assets before it stops permanently on August 31.
Nearly 20 million people could have thousands of pounds in lost bills and policies, according to recent calculations by Gretel, a law enforcement agency.
It predicted £50bn is currently unclaimed in the UK, with the vast majority – £37bn – believed to be locked up in old pensions.
The UAR, run by credit rating agency Experian, has been an important tool for consumers looking for forgotten pensions, bank accounts, premium bonds, investments and insurance. But now, after 20 years, Experian is closing the database, saying it is no longer a priority for the company.
Jai Baker of Link Group, an accounting firm, said that reconnecting people to their assets is “a fundamental role of the financial services industry” and added that the shutdown of the service — which contains 4.5 million records of about 80 financial service providers – has led to a spotlight on the issue of dormant assets.
Currently, providers are not required to centrally list their lost assets, creating a disparate market for locating lost assets that is difficult for consumers to navigate. Services such as Police Detective, an insurance policy finding tool, and Money Helper’s Pension Tracing Service are free to use, but only allow customers to search for specific assets.
This makes it less useful for, for example, executors who are looking for lost inheritances. In these situations, you can use a service like Inheritance Data, which allows people to search across a range of financial accounts.
Daniel Cane of Inheritance Data pointed out that the UAR “could only search the data of a limited number of companies.”
Last year, the government announced it was expanding its dormant asset plan to include insurance policies, pension pots and investments. It is hoped that the extension of the scheme can help more people find out if they have a windfall.