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Unclaimed money

Unclaimed money

91 official government search portals, reviewed Aug 5, 2026. This sends you to the government’s own search, never to an intermediary.

Where to search

Search everywhere you have lived or worked, not only where you are now. Property with no known owner address escheats to the holder’s state, which is why so much American unclaimed property sits in Delaware.

Search every place you have ever lived, not just where you are now. Property is escheated by the holder’s state, which is often not yours.

 

5 portals for United Kingdom, including the national programmes that also hold money for people in that jurisdiction.

  • OfficialFree to search

    My Lost Account — dormant bank, building society and NS&I accounts

    Open the official search
    Cost to searchFree
    Typical time to payment90 days
    Entry reviewedAug 5, 2026

    What you will be asked for

    Full name and dates of birth
    Every address you held while the account was open
    Proof of identity when a match is found

    Worth knowing

    Run jointly by UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and NS&I. One form searches all three. It is free, and there is no version of this that legitimately costs money.

  • Not a government bodyFree to search

    Gretel — free dormant asset reunification service

    Open the official search
    Cost to searchFree
    Entry reviewedAug 5, 2026

    Worth knowing

    Not a government service, which is why it is marked unofficial — but it is free to the consumer (funded by the providers), it covers pensions, investments and insurance that My Lost Account does not, and it is endorsed by parts of the UK financial industry. Use it as a supplement, never as a substitute for the official searches.

    This is a legitimate non-government service carried because it genuinely helps and no public body duplicates it. It does not charge you to search. Nothing that charges a consumer to search is recommended anywhere in this product.

  • OfficialFree to search

    Bona Vacantia Division, Government Legal Department — unclaimed estates

    Open the official search
    Cost to searchFree
    Notarised affidavitSmall single-owner claims are usually paid on an online identity check; heir, business and high-value claims are not.For some claims
    Entry reviewedAug 5, 2026

    What you will be asked for

    A documented family tree establishing entitlement
    Birth, marriage and death certificates linking you to the deceased

    Worth knowing

    The published unclaimed estates list is the hunting ground for heir-hunting firms, who will contact you offering a percentage deal before you know an estate exists. You can claim directly and for free; the list is public. Scotland and Cornwall have separate arrangements (the King's and Queen's Remembrancer and the Duchy of Cornwall respectively).

  • OfficialFree to search

    Pension Tracing Service (Department for Work and Pensions)

    Open the official search
    Cost to searchFree
    Entry reviewedAug 5, 2026

    Worth knowing

    Finds the current administrator of a workplace or personal pension whose provider has changed name or been taken over. It does not tell you what the pension is worth — that comes from the administrator once you contact them. Free; several commercial sites charge for the same lookup.

  • OfficialFree to search

    National Savings and Investments — tracing lost savings and Premium Bonds

    Open the official search
    Cost to searchFree
    Entry reviewedAug 5, 2026

    Worth knowing

    NS&I holds a very large number of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes with no expiry date — a prize from decades ago is still payable. The prize checker and the tracing service are both free.

Every portal carried

91 registers. Where a country runs no central register it is listed saying so — Germany, Japan and Hong Kong hold dormant money at the bank that has it, with no national search to run.

United States — states and DC51

Once you have found something

Filing is free and you do it yourself: expect photo ID, the tax or national identity number on the record, and something linking you to the address it was reported under. The one hard deadline here is American — an unclaimed IRS refund expires three years after the return was due. State unclaimed property is usually held indefinitely.

Work through a claimTrack one you have filed

The regimes behind this category

Dataset reviewed Aug 5, 2026

Links go to the administering body’s own domain. If one does not resolve, find the programme through the state or national government’s own site rather than through a search engine — finder services rank highly for exactly these terms.