David Goodall

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By David Goodall - Wed 12th Jan 2011

 

So you’ve moved to Spain (or are planning to do so in the near future) and you wrote out a ‘To Do List’ (well its probably in your head at least) but have you missed anything, lost an old bank account, maybe even a small pension with a company you worked for 25 years ago? Just think about it for a few minutes. Talk to all of your family and friends and you never know what you might dredge up from your collective memories.

I started with enquiries for myself when I found a website called ‘my lost account’. This is a joint venture between the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the Building Societies Association (BSA). If you have lost, mislaid or forgotten about any Bank or Building Society accounts or think you may have unclaimed assets, as long as you can identify yourself, you can reclaim your money.

The types of savings and investments that this covers includes :

Pensions – company or personal

Insurance Policies

Bank Accounts

Building Society savings

Shares

Inheritances

Financial institutions have literally billions of in unclaimed assets, waiting for their rightful owners to collect. Did you know that any uncollected inheritances go to the HM Treasury?

If you have pensions you cannot trace, then a financial adviser may be able to help. Many companies have been taken over or merged and can be difficult to trace. I am happy to recommend a regulated adviser if you post me your details in the comments box, below.

ITV in the UK ran a programme some time ago which concentrated on life assurance policies, but the same is true of shares, bank accounts and building society funds.

Here are four useful resources where you can search:

www.mylostaccount.org.uk

www.unclaimedassets.co.uk

www.assetsreunited.co.uk

www.uar.co.uk

Seriously it is worth a look. If you find any others, please post your comments me and I’ll add them to the blog.

What’s more you could be doing your family, friends and neighbours a great favour by passing on this information. You just never know……….

PS - If you recover lots of cash, please remember the guy that told you about it!