If an account has been inactive for an extended period of time, the bank or building society holding the account will write to the customer asking them whether they wish the account to remain open.
If no response is received, then the bank or building society will stop sending correspondence and will class the account as “lost”. This ensures that financial details are not sent to what might be an old address, which reduces the risk of fraud and ID theft. It is not good practice to send statements, cheque books and other material to an out-of-date address, where someone could try to access an account or use the correspondence for other fraudulent purposes.
The most typical cause of an account becoming lost is a change of address. Banks and building societies do have set procedures in place for trying to contact customers before they make accounts lost. This contact is normally in addition to other regular customer mailings. Depending on the circumstances, banks and building societies may also undertake other forms of pro-active search to trace customers when they lose touch.
However, if an account does become lost, you can still reactivate the account or claim your money on application to the bank or building society.
Baines and Ernst Ltd