NS&I has found that one in seven people who moved house in the last 12
months had forgotten to tell all of their financial providers their new
address and, worryingly, this figure is not improving – it has not changed
in the 12 months since NS&I last carried out its research.
The problem – faced by the entire financial services industry – is enormous;
NS&I has found that, potentially, £11.4 billion is neglected by customers
each year. When people move house they are literally walking away from
their money and, without a current address, financial providers cannot stay
in touch with their customers.
And, according to NS&I’s research, the biggest culprits are those aged 45 to
54, with one in three (34%) of those people who had moved house in the last
12 months admitting they had forgotten to forward their new address to any
organisation with which they have savings, investments or other financial
products. This compares with just 3% of those aged 35 to 44 and none aged
55 to 64 – all the people surveyed in this age group had remembered to
notify financial providers of their new address.
But through its free tracing service, launched 18 months ago this month,
NS&I has successfully reunited 9,300 people with lost or forgotten savings
and investments worth more than £5.9 million.
Currently there is £22.7 million in unclaimed Premium Bond prizes and
customers can use the tracing service to find out if there are any prizes
due to them. It can also be used to trace lost or forgotten savings
certificates, accounts or other bonds. There is no time limit on claiming
any lost or forgotten funds with NS&I because they remain the property of
the customer and can be claimed back at any time.
To use the tracing service, customers simply request a tracing service
brochure from NS&I by calling 0845 964 5000 or download a form from the
website at www.nsandi.com, complete it in as much detail as possible
including previous addresses and other names and return it to NS&I. The
customer will be contacted once the trace has been completed, usually within
one month.
Gill Cattanach, NS&I Commercial Director, said: “It is remarkable that
people continue to forget to give their financial provider their new address
when they move home and it is of great concern that, potentially, they could
be losing touch with so much money. Fortunately, the NS&I tracing service
can reunite our customers with some of this lost or forgotten money.
“It is crucial that our customers who have moved and not given us their new
address get in contact with us as soon as possible. I would urge customers
to use our tracing service if they believe they may have an old account with
us or perhaps have lost their old Premium Bonds, for example. This way we
can reunite more people with money that is rightfully theirs.”
Tracing facts
· Free service launched in November 2001
· 9,336 successful traces
· Total value of successful traces: £5,985,969
· Average value of successful traces: £641
· Total value of Premium Bonds traced in past 18 months: £3,741,819
· Total number of Premium Bond traces: 4,103
· Average value of Premium Bond trace: £912
· Total value of Savings Certificates traced in past 18 months: £1,353,000
· Total number of Savings Certificates traces: 132
· Average value of Savings Certificates trace: £10,250
· Around the world: NS&I has traced money for people now living in
Australia, Thailand, Canada, USA and Italy
Moving house
In the past year, 11% of people (i.e. one in 10) have moved home and one in
seven people forget to give their financial providers their new address,
resulting in a potential average loss of £16,090 per person.
The average cost of a home in the UK is £153,301. The average cost of
moving home (selling at £100,000 and buying at £150,000), including stamp
duty, solicitors’ fees, searches, land registry fees, estate agents’ fees,
valuation fee and removal costs amounts to approximately £4,680; costs which
could be paid for out of the average lost or forgotten saving or investment
of £16,090.
£16,090 could buy…
· One family car (average price £11,000) and one 500cc motorcycle (average
price £4,000) plus road tax, or
· One new 20-foot motor boat and trailer, or
· A vintage 2-seater light aircraft (such as a Piper J3C Cub, Aeronca or
Luscombe) and one year’s flying costs, or
· A loft conversion, or
· A luxury excursion to the Amazon and Galapagos Islands for 21 days and two
weeks in the Caribbean, including a cruise – all for four people, or
· Complete collection of mid-priced kitchen white goods (washing machine,
tumble dryer, dishwasher, fridge-freezer, cooker, microwave oven, toaster,
kettle, coffee maker) plus a 28” widescreen home cinema system with DVD
player, a CD and minidisc hi-fi system, personal computer, laptop, and still
have spare cash for other household appliances, or
· 201 top price tickets to the FA Cup Final (£80 per ticket), or
· 459 bottles of good quality champagne (£35 a bottle), or
· 536 square metres of new carpet (priced at £30 per square metre) – enough
to cover the ground floor area of four medium-sized detached houses, or
· 1,610 chart CDs (average price: £9.99), or
· 7,626 pints of lager (average price: £2.11), or
· 40,230 Mars bars – one a day for 110 years (40p per bar).
