WHEN Carole Railton tried to track down a lost pension she found the adviser had shut up shop.
But two years ago the 73-year-old, who lives in Wapping, London, tracked down the lost cash and is now £2,500 a month richer.
She is one 30million Brits who between them have lost nearly £90billion.
The cash is sitting dormant and unclaimed in over 30 million UK pensions, savings accounts, insurance policies and investments, according to online lost account finder Gretel.
Gretel has today announced a partnership with insurance giant Aviva to help find more lost accounts.
In the late 1980s, Carole had been working for Xerox when a financial adviser persuaded her to switch from a company pension.
She, like thousands of others, had become a victim of pension mis-selling, where savers were lured into leaving gold-plated company pension schemes in favour of inferior self-funded personal pensions.
Carole, a body language expert, tried to track down her pension after leaving Xerox in the 1990s.
She said: “When I went to track down my pension I found the adviser had shut up shop.”
“It was very frustrating, but I wasn’t thinking of retiring at that time, so I left it.”
Despite trying numerous times to track down the cash she was unsuccessful and even decided to sell her home and rent to continue living in London.
Last year Carole contacted a financial adviser. “My illness had made me re-think everything so I wanted to sort out my finances.
The adviser started asking about any pensions and I told them about the one I had with Xerox.
“Luckily because I had worked for Xerox they were able to track down the pension company it had been transferred to, even then it was not easy,” she said.
“I think it was about following a long paper trail, but it turned out my pension had been bought out at least three times.”
Her lost fund was worth just over £200,000 which she used to buy an enhanced annuity which pays her £2,500 a month.
Having a long-term illness means the insurance company who sold her the annuity can pay her more than if she was predicted to live another 30 years.
Carole doesn’t regret selling her home and is using her new-found wealth to spend more time with her friends.
“Covid and lockdown made me realise who my friends were and what makes me happy.
“Now I’ve got a fantastic view of London and a view of the Shard, got some wonderful friends and I don’t have to worry about paying the bills.
“You can’t ask for more.”
Duncan Stevens, chief executive of Gretel, urged Brits to use it free service to track down their lost savings.
He said many of the account holders might be unaware they had the policy in the first place.
He added: “We are hoping to help savers track down their missing cash. That’s why we set up Gretel.
“It’s not just old savings accounts but with pensions auto enrolment, which means employers have to set up a new pension for all their employees, there are likely to be lost pots which go missing.”
ARE YOU OWED MONEY?
THERE is £89 billion owed to customers in the UK in dormant accounts. Where can you find the cash?
Pensions – 2.8 million pension accounts – worth £64bn – average value of £23,125 each. You can track down a pension using the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193 or https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Bank and building society savings accounts – 14 million accounts – worth £4.5bn – average value £321 each. Track down a savings account using the My Lost Account website at https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk
Securities – shares, bonds and exchange traded funds – two million accounts – worth £2.5bn – average value £1,250. You can find lost shares using Gretel and the Investment Association’s unclaimed assets portal on https://www.theia.org/unclaimedassets
Investments – total value £2.8bn – average amount unclaimed £2,800. These can also be claimed via the unclaimed assets portal https://www.theia.org/unclaimedassets
Life insurance – 3.5 million accounts – total value £8.1bn average of £2,380 each. If you have an idea of the company who the insurance policy was with contact that provider, if you are unsure use the unclaimed assets register on 0844 481 81 80.
NS&I accounts – total £81m – average value £35. Fill in an online form at NS&I https://www.nsandi.com/help/lost-touch-with-nsandi/track-lost-investments or use the My Lost Account service at https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk
Child Trust Funds (CTFs) – 2.6 million children – total value £5.7bn or £2,175 each. Find your child’s or your lost CTF using HMRC’s CTF tracing service at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/child-trust-fund
Gretel’s free tracing service is available at www.gretel.co.uk simply put in your date of birth name and address(ess)