Halifax leads search for "forgotten" accounts

Halifax is launching today a campaign to reunite its customers with approximately £44 million held in around 110,000 old and unused savings and bank accounts.

Halifax is the first institution to launch such a major reunification campaign. Under plans outlined by the Chancellor in the 2005 Pre-Budget Report, accounts that the customer has not used (" forgotten" accounts) for over 15 years will be classed as "dormant" . The money will always remain the customers' property. It can be reclaimed at any time.

Dormant accounts

Almost 75% of dormant accounts held by Halifax customers have a balance of less than £100. The vast majority of dormant accounts are savings accounts. The total amount in Halifax dormant accounts – £44 million – represents just 0.03% of the £133 billion of retail banking and savings balances held by HBOS.

The largest concentration of old and unused Halifax accounts is in London (24%), followed by the North of England (18%). A total of £15.5 million remains unclaimed by London customers.

Major campaign to reunite customers with their cash

From today, Halifax is undertaking a series of activities to reunite relevant customers with their cash:

Mailings to dormant account customers.
National and regional newspaper advertising.
Claim forms in all Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches.
A dedicated website halifaxlocateaccounts.co.uk to enable customers to download claim forms.

Reactivating Accounts

Customers can either visit a branch and complete a claim form or go to the new websites. Where an account is traced, customers can reactivate their accounts and will receive any applicable interest on their full balance.

Third-party search agents are being employed by Halifax to actively seek customers with balances above £1,000. Halifax will meet all the costs associated with these searches.

Track Record

Halifax already has a track record of reuniting customers with cash held in old and unused accounts. For example, all 18 million customers were contacted ahead of conversion to plc status in 1997. This remains the UK's largest ever flotation. In addition, Halifax has been an active member of the British Bankers' Association's dormant account scheme since its inception in May 2001.

Mike Regnier, head of savings at HBOS, comments, "Our job is to reunite as many of our customers as is possible with their cash. We are using every means at our disposal to do so – mailings, advertising and the internet. We are also employing search agents where appropriate.

"We expect that the Government will launch its dormant account scheme the next few years. We are launching our reunification campaign today so that we have as much time as possible to get the cash back to its owners."