Halifax has launched its ‘Desperately Seeking’ campaign, urging customers to reclaim their money in savings and current accounts as soon as possible as the second reading of the Government’s dormant bill is due on October 6.

Money that remains unclaimed after 15 years could soon be deposited into a Government fund that will be used to fund various programmes. But before that can happen Halifax is upping its reunification drive putting the dormant accounts on the Unclaimed Assets Register, advertising nationally and regionally in the press and providing dormant data to local media in a bid to reunite the cash with its rightful owner.

According to figures, there are four dormant Halifax accounts with a balance of more than £100,000, but the majority of accounts (70 per cent) have a balance of less than £50. Head of savings at Halifax Tony Wilcox said: “We want to highlight to UK consumers that dormant funds still exist all across the UK. We would urge customers to take note that the money is still lying dormant and to come forward to check if they have dormant funds.”

At HSBC there are a total of 17,000 dormant current and savings accounts waiting to be claimed with a total balance of more then £24million. Of those, 17 have balances of more than £100,000, while the average dormant balance is £1,400.

Speaking of the motions, general manager for HSBC Customer Propositions, Carlos Wanderley, said: “It is quite possible that some owners of these funds are well aware it is there as some people do leave their money untouched for long periods. Obviously we’re happy to hold it for them for as long as they like, but we would like to hear from them so that we can ensure that it is working effectively for them.”

© Fair Investment Company Ltd