Passbooks and dormant accounts

Customers come to us because:

• they have found a bank or building society passbook – their own or one that belonged to a relative who’s died – that shows a balance of money still in the account, and
• the bank or building society says the account is closed but can’t tell them when it was closed or prove that it is.

If an account has not been used – and the bank or building society has lost contact with the account holder – an account may have become ‘dormant’.

The account will be recorded under the customer’s name on a register of dormant accounts, held by the bank or building society.

Financial businesses aren't required to keep a record of accounts indefinitely.

Many building societies and former building societies have the right, under their own rules, to close an account if there's been no contact with the account holder for:

• three years and there’s less than £100 in the account, or
• five years and the bank or building society has tried to trace the account holder.

We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP) and will take into account how you’ve tried to put things right. 

We only look at complaints you've had an opportunity to deal with first. If the consumer is unhappy with your decision, or you don't respond to them within the time limits, they can come to us. 

Each case is different, so what we require from you will vary, but we’ll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer. What we consider will usually include:

• relevant laws, rules and regulations, guidance, standards and codes of practice that were in place when the event happened
• a record of the account being closed on your dormant accounts register
• evidence to show you carried out all the necessary searches.

We may also ask more questions or for specific information, for example, to explore whether your firm complied with the Consumer Duty.

Because you don’t have to keep a record indefinitely, you may not have a closure slip or account statement from when your customer stopped using the passbook. If there's no evidence that the account still exists, it's most likely that the account was closed and the balance withdrawn at a date after the last recorded entry in the passbook.

If we think the account and balance still exist, we’ll tell you what to do to put things right with your customer. This may be by:

• reactivating the account – with interest at the rate appropriate to the type of account held – from the time of the last recorded transaction to when the customer first asked for the money
• paying interest on the new balance from that point to the present date
• paying compensation for any distress or inconvenience caused.

Sometimes customers ask whether the account balance should be adjusted to reflect what it would be worth today. But the buying power of a deposited sum usually decreases over time mainly because of inflation, so we’re unlikely to ask you to do make that adjustment.

Restore UK helps re-unite holocaust victims, or their heirs, with money in bank accounts unclaimed since the Second World War.

Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for information on how we might look at a particular complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work.

We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.