Homeless man who found hidden savings account urges everyone to do 5-minute test

15 April 2023 , 09:29

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James found an old account containing hundreds of pounds (Image: Getty Images)

A man who was able to lift himself from living on the streets when he discovered an old bank account from his childhood has urged others to check as well.

James Smith was 22 and homeless when he located a lost his mother opened with Natwest when he was a young child.

She had dutifully put £10 in it for several years before it was forgotten about.

It came through in James’ hour of need however as it had £300 inside when he rediscovered it, which he was able to eventually use to put down a deposit to rent a flat.

He has urged others to check as well, in case a small fortune is waiting to be found.

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James has urged others to also check for hidden accounts (Getty Images)

James 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."

Around 19.6million people in the UK are missing out on dormant or unclaimed money, according to figures from Gretel.

Around 44% of UK adults think they may have a lost or dormant account.

Gretel launched last year to help reunite consumers with lost and dormant accounts in the middle of the cost of living crisis.

People have "everything to gain" by checking (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The site works by partnering with banks and agencies to access the databases of dormant accounts.

There are nearly 20million customer accounts with a combined value of over £50billion that have been lost or forgotten by their rightful owners, in the UK alone, its findings show.

This includes £37billion in pensions, £5.3billion in lost investments and shares and £2.2billion in .

Duncan Stevens, chief executive of Gretel said: "Gretel is a huge step forwards in solving the longstanding issue of dormant assets in financial services.

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"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."

Antony Clements-Thrower