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Nearly £100 million of unclaimed bank funds could soon be reunited with customers if a scheme by the newly-created Lloyds Banking Group proves successful.
A total of £23 million has so far been returned, but £93 million is still lying dormant in unused accounts, according to the group born out of Halifax Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.
It is now urging customers to check if they have any forgotten money in savings, current accounts and business accounts by launching a national and regional advertising campaign, as well as using external tracing companies to find customers that may have fallen out of touch.
The managing director of consumer banking at Lloyds Banking Group, Peter Jackson, said: "In challenging times reuniting customers with dormant funds could prove a welcome boost to many.
"We have a significant task ahead to reunite our customers with their money. We will be undertaking several sets of proactive activities designed to make customers aware that this money is available for them to claim."
The HSBC side of the group said that a similar campaign in September last year has seen 3,500 customers reunited with more than £5.5 million of forgotten funds.
The flurry of activity to reunite customers with forgotten money comes after the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act was given Royal Assent in November last year. This allows cash left for over 15 years to be transferred to a Central Reclaim Fund in order to be reinvested in community projects, though account holders will never lose the right to reclaim their money.
A free website set up by a number of industry bodies a year ago to help customers trace lost accounts has so far been used by nearly a quarter of a million people.
Mylostaccount.org.uk covers dormant funds totalling £850 million in bank and building society accounts, as well as NS&I products and Premium Bond wins.
Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association (BSA), which helped set up the site, said: "We would urge any savers who think they have a savings account, but have lost touch with it, to use mylostaccount to track it down."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
