OUR FORGOTTEN SAVINGS

More than 60 years ago, when Carol Allison was a six-year-old living for a year in Edinburgh with her gran, she was given a shilling every week to put into her bank account.

The savings, amounting to all of £2.50, were long-ago forgotten about. Until Carol, now 74, found her childhood bank book during a clear-out and curiosity made her wonder if her savings still existed.

She discovered that, not only were they still there, they were now worth £250. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a stick, as my Dad would say.

Carol learned that when a UK bank or building society account has been dormant for 15 years, the money gets sent to something called the Reclaim Fund.

This little-known body has received a staggering £1.4 billion from accounts that, for one reason or another, have just been forgotten about. Only £100,000 has so far been reclaimed.

Formed in 2011, the not-for-profit fund has so far donated £800 million to social investment and children’s charities – keeping £600m in case there’s a sudden rush of customers coming forward to reclaim their cash.

Chief executive Adrian Smith says many of the accounts are more than 50 years old, explaining, ‘It is very important for people to know their money is never lost, they can always get it back. I would always encourage anyone who thinks they have a lost account to apply.’

Already Carol has discovered two more bank books from the 1980s and is eagerly awaiting news of what further riches she might have unearthed. ‘It’s very exciting,’ she admits.

The question is – could any of us have long-lost savings? The good news is, you don’t even need the original bank book to apply – you just need to know the address you were living in at the time, and the name of the bank.

Perhaps we could all withdraw our forgotten funds and donate them to the Ukraine war effort. (That’s what I’d do, anyway…)

What are you waiting for?!