A once-homeless man was able to put a deposit down for a rental home after discovering an old and dormant bank account from his childhood. Now he's urging others to see if they have small fortunes tucked away.
James Smith was 22-years-old when he located the lost bank account with Natwest from his childhood, which his mother had topped up with £10 a month for several years before it became a second thought.
The hidden money came up in James' hour of need though, containing £300 when it was rediscovered - which he eventually used to help put down a deposit on a rental flat.
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The Mirror reports that James is now urging others to check as well, in case a small fortune is waiting to be found. He said: "My mum set it up for me when I was 10 years old, she had been paying around £10 a month for several years. When I found it, it had £300 in."
"It was such a lengthy, complicated process to get it back manually through Natwest. You could find a forgotten pension or savings from your great grandparents - the reality is that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from checking."
Some 19.6million people across the UK are missing out on hidden or unclaimed money - according to figures from Gretel. Furthermore, around 44 per cent of adults in the UK also think that they may have a secret, lost or dormant account.
Gretel launched in 2022 to assist consumers in finding their lost and dormant accounts amid the cost of living crisis. The site functions by partnering with banks and agencies to access databases containing information on dormant accounts.
Almost 20million customer accounts with a combined value of £50billion have been lost or forgotten about according to Gretel's findings, including £37billion in pensions, £5.3billion in lost investments and shares, as well as £2.2billion in lost child trust funds.
Duncan Stevens, chief executive of Gretel said: "Gretel is a huge step forwards in solving the longstanding issue of dormant assets in financial services. Knowing the scale of what Gretel can achieve for people in the UK and how we can help people reconnect with their lost savings, pensions and bank accounts at this time.
"We are transforming a process that can take up to three months into three minutes and I am delighted that we have a chance to make a difference in people’s lives."
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