If you have lost touch with your bank, building society or NS&I account, this website will guide you through some simple steps to help find your lost account.
What is a lost account?
Banks, building societies and NS&I want to keep in touch with their customers. If, however, an account has been inactive for an extended period (often 15 years), banks and building societies will write to the customer asking them whether they wish the account to remain open. Depending on the circumstances, the account provider may also undertake other forms of proactive search to trace customers when they lose touch.
If no response is received, the bank, building society or NS&I 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. This reduces the risk of fraud and identity theft.
The most typical cause of an account becoming lost is a change of address.
If an account does become lost, customers can either reactivate the account or claim their money by contacting the bank, building society or NS&I directly or by using the online claim form on this website.
How can My Lost Account help me trace my money?
The My Lost Account service can help you trace lost personal accounts where you are unsure which bank or building society holds the account, including where the bank or building society has since closed or merged. NS&I products can also be traced using this service.
It is a free service bringing together the three tracing schemes of UK Finance, the Building Societies Association (BSA) and NS&I into a single application form. Anyone with a lost account with a bank, a building society, NS&I, or all three can initiate a search simply by completing just one application form.
Information you provide via your online application will be passed securely to the account provider you selected. The account provider will then carry out a search of their lost accounts and you will be informed whether any account they hold matches the details you submitted online.
The account provider will need to be satisfied about your identity and legal entitlement to the money in your account, before being able to reunite you with your account. This is for your protection.
If you are unsure whether your account is lost, or whether this service is appropriate for you, please see our FAQs.
When not to use this service
The My Lost Account service can only be used for tracing accounts marked as lost. If you know the name of the bank or building society with which you held the account and that account provider still exists, then it is best to start by contacting them directly to ask whether the account is still active.
Advice on searching wills and legacies
If you are an executor, or the next of kin, seeking to settle the banking affairs of a deceased person, the first point of contact should be their bank and/or building society, since the accounts may not be classified as lost. If you do not know the bank and/or building society we would recommend a search of the five largest firms (HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander). For building societies use the regional search option. This service only traces lost accounts (generally untouched for 15 years) and so cannot be used to trace active accounts. For NS&I products, please contact NS&I directly via its website.
You may also find the Death Notification Service helpful. It is a free service available to anyone who has recently suffered a bereavement and wishes to notify one or more banks, building societies and other member organisations of a person's death, at the same time. To find out more please click here. Please note, the Death Notification Service only applies to active accounts and so you may wish to also submit an application to My Lost Account to search for any dormant accounts.
What if the account is with a foreign bank?
If your account is held overseas you will need to pursue your claim with the bank or savings institution holding the account directly. This service is for tracing UK based personal accounts only.
Locating charity or business accounts
If you are trying to locate a lost business or charity account, then consult your bank or building society for more details. This service is for personal accounts only.
For further information, please refer to the FAQs.
How the service works
- Create a profile using an email address and a password that contains at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character and one number.
- Click on the verification link that will be sent to the email your provided.
- Once verified, answer a series of questions including whether the account was in your name, your date of birth, current contact address, previous addresses, who you think the account was with etc, please answer as many questions as you can as this will help with the search.
- Review your application and click submit.
You will receive an email confirming that your application has been submitted which will include a unique 16-digit application number.
When an account provider that you have selected has completed their search you will receive an email alert to say that an update is available in your online profile. You can check the status of your application at anytime by logging into your profile.
Alternatively, if you have submitted a paper application form, declined to setup an online profile or are searching for an NS&I product, you will receive the search result in writing.
You will receive responses from the account provider selected within 90 days.
If you are unable to apply online, copies of the application forms are available from the FAQs section of the website. You will need to complete one application form for banks, one for building societies and one for NS&I. This is a much slower process so where possible please complete the application online.