Nationwide campaign to reunite savers with forgotten dormant accounts

Commenting on the Nationwide Building Society campaign to reunite savers with forgotten dormant accounts, Kevin Mountford, head of savings and current accounts at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: “Any attempt to match savers with their forgotten funds should be applauded, and it’s good to see Nationwide being the latest provider to get on board with this issue. If it can return even a small amount of the £42 million in dormant funds on its books, that’s a good start.

“While we do applaud Nationwide, it’s worth noting it is late to this particular party – Halifax claims to have already reunited savers with £6 million, and Alliance & Leicester has delivered a total of £31 million to 19,500 customers.

“The cynic in me says these moves could be seen as a form of self-regulation ahead of the Government’s Unclaimed Assets scheme in January 2009, whereby any dormant funds will be used to fund charitable causes. But if money is returned to its rightful owners now then it’s a good move, whatever the motives.

“Savers shouldn’t wait to be contacted however, and there are a number of ways in which you can check for and make necessary claims, starting with the Dormant Account link on the bba.org.uk website.”