How to find your old bank accounts

Finding old bank accounts is free, there’s no need to pay for someone else to find them for you.  

If you don’t know where your savings are, it’s likely that you’re not earning much interest on them. You also can’t use that money to work towards your financial goals.  

Whether you want to build an emergency fund or save towards buying your first home, any extra money you can track down can help you reach your goal more quickly.

There are a lot of reasons why you might no longer have access to a savings account in your name, including: 

• moving home 
• lost paperwork 
• the bank or building society no longer exists 
• the account was opened for you when you were a child. 

Some types of account are easier to lose track of than others. If you were born in the UK between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, a Child Trust Fund was probably opened in your name when you were a baby.  

According to The Share FoundationOpens in a new window there’s an estimated £2 billion left in unclaimed Child Trust Funds. That’s an average of £1,900 per account.

The more information you can find about old accounts, the better.  

If you can find out the name of the bank, when you were paying in and your name and address at the time, it will make finding old accounts easier.

Even if you don’t remember the exact details of an account, your old paperwork and bank statements could help. 

If you transferred money in or out of your lost account using an account you do have records of, you might be able to see an account number on an old statement.

Checking online records could also help you find details of old accounts.  

Download statements to see if there’s any sign of you moving money in or out of the lost account.  

Check your emails to see if you were sent anything when you opened the account you’re looking for.

Even if you don’t know many details about the old account you’re looking for, there are free tools to help you track down lost bank accounts. 

My Lost Account is a service that helps you track down lost bank accounts and National Savings and Investments (NS&I) productsOpens in a new window

Once you fill out the form, they will contact the bank or building society for you to find the details of the account.  

The service can only be used to find ‘lost’ accounts.  

An account will be marked as lost or dormant when:  

• the account has been inactive for an extended period of time (often 15 years), 
• the bank, building society or NS&I has written to you about the account, and 
• you did not respond to the letter.  

If you think this applies you, start your lost account searchOpens in a new window

Once you’ve created a profile on My Lost Account it will ask you to enter any details you remember including: 

• full name 
• date of birth 
• current and previous addresses 
• if you’re looking for a bank or building society account or an NS&I product 
• name of the bank or building society 
• sort codes and account numbers if known 
• dates when you think the account was in use 
• how much money you think was in the account. 

You should receive a response within three months of submitting your application. For lost bank or building society accounts this will be through email. 

If you are looking for a lost NS&I product (including old Post Office Savings accounts) they aim to respond within a month, and it will arrive through the post. 

If My Lost Account haven’t been able to find the account or you don’t think it’s been inactive for a long enough time, you might have to contact the bank directly. 

The bank or building society should be able to help you if you have ID and proof of address.  

Get in touch using the details on their website or go in branch and explain your problem.  

If they have an old account for you and your name, date of birth and address match up, they should be able to give you access to your old account.  

It’s helpful if they have: 

• your name, including any previous names 
• your date of birth 
• your addresses going back to the time you think the account was opened 
• any sort codes or account numbers that you know.

Even if the bank or building society you think you had an account with doesn’t operate any more, you can still claim any money they held.  

The Building Society Association has a search to find out which bank or building society took on accounts from building societies that closed or merged with othersOpens in a new window

For example, Abbey National customers were taken on by Santander.  

This could help you find out who to get in touch with directly about your lost account. 

You could also try the fintech company Gretel. It’s a free service that can find old bank accounts, pensions and Child Trust FundsOpens in a new window

Gretel will only work if the account you’re looking for is with one of their members, but it could be worth a try if other methods haven’t worked.  

It only takes three minutes to fill out your details, and the service does a soft credit search to match you with any accounts.  

If you have lost track of your Premium Bonds, Saving Bonds, Direct ISA or Junior ISA these schemes and others are operated by NS&I

If you don’t have your NS&I number to log into your account, use the My Lost Account service to find itOpens in a new window

You can also use the Lost touch with NS&I pageOpens in a new window to find out how to regain access to your accounts and reclaim any prizes you might have missed.  

If you’re contacted directly about an old account, you would be right to be suspicious that it could be a scam.  

Never provide any personal information to cold callers or text messages.  

No legitimate bank or building society would mind if you hung up the phone and called them back on the phone number listed on their official website.