Halifax hunt down dormant customers

The UK’s largest savings provider, the Halifax has launched a campaign to track down the rightful owners of £44m of “forgotten” money held in old and unused accounts.

Halifax says it will try to reunite its customers with cash held in over 100,000 dormant accounts across the UK.

In doing so, it becomes the first financial institution to embark on a major campaign to actively ‘give back’ cash to customers.

Accounts are classed as “dormant” if there has been no customer activity on them for at least 15 years. Almost 75% of dormant accounts held by Halifax customers have a balance of less than £100, with the vast majority of money held in savings accounts, records show. The largest concentration of old and unused accounts are in London, with £15.5m left unclaimed by customers in the capital.

Halifax expects that the Government will eventually launch a scheme to use unclaimed cash to fund a number of good causes outlined by the Treasury.

Halifax has begun a national and regional advertising campaign and set up a website – www.halifaxlocateaccounts.co.uk – for owners of dormant accounts.

The savings provider will also contact dormant account customers and make claims forms available in all Halifax and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) branches.

In addition, Halifax will employ third-party search agents to actively seek customers with balances above £1,000 held in dormant accounts.

Anyone reactivating their accounts will receive all interest due on their balance, they confirmed.