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United Kingdom |
|
 Millions
go unclaimed (18
January 2003) |
| Premium Bond prizewinners are contacted automatically when they have won. Yet more than £26 million in prizes is unclaimed. |
| £700,000
- and it could be you (28
June 2002) |
| A lottery winner who bought the ticket in Warwickshire has failed to claim a prize of more than £700,000. |
| Mystery
Man's £13,000 (22
June 2002) |
| A team of insurers wants to trace a man whose last address was in the Grimsby area - to let him know he has unclaimed riches worth more than £13,000. |
| Pensioners
'miss out on £1.8bn' (19
June 2002) |
| The UK's pensioners are missing out on up to £1.8bn of means tested benefits, a leading pensioners' charity has warned. |
| 'Looted
pictures' claim against British Museum (28 May 2002) |
| A claim has been lodged against the British Museum for the return of four beautiful old master drawings which are claimed to have been stolen from a Jewish collector who died in prison after Nazi torture. |
| Are
You Sitting On £3.4m? (21 May 2002) |
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A
mystery Derby lottery winner is sitting on a £3.4m fortune. A jackpot ticket for the National Lottery's 656th draw on Saturday, April 6, was bought in Derby, or south Derbyshire, but the seven-figure sum has yet to be claimed. |
| Last
chance for Midshires customers (22 April 2002) |
| Members of the Birmingham Midshires building society when it was taken over by Halifax in April 1999 have just three months to take up the shares they are owed. |
| £2m
Lottery jackpot still unclaimed
(10 April 2002) |
|
Lottery operator Camelot is
using a steam train in a bid to find the mystery holder of a £2 million
winning ticket. The National Lottery ticket was bought for the October 24 draw using the lucky numbers 8, 38, 39, 40, 43 and 44. |
| OAPs'
benefits "going unclaimed"
(11 March 2002) |
| More than £1.2bn of benefits go unclaimed each year because pensioners do not understand what they are entitled to, according to a study. |
| Unclaimed
Lottery Winnings (27
February 2002) |
| The total amount of unclaimed prizes, gone to the 'good causes', is now over £365.7m. Currently £43m of unclaimed prizes within the 180-day deadline are still outstanding. |
| British
wreck off Gibraltar may hold £2.5bn of gold
(26
February 2002) |
| What might be the largest treasure trove in marine history has been found in the wreck of a 17th century British warship off Gibraltar, the Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday. |
| Burglars
Ransack George Michael's London Mansion (18
February 2002) |
| Pop singer George Michael’s north London home was burgled while the pop singer was in Los Angeles last week, police sources have revealed. |
| Does
the taxman owe you? (14
February 2002) |
| The Inland Revenue is set to pocket more than £15m in unclaimed rebates unless thousands of taxpayers come forward to claim their cash. |
| Deadline
approaches for Legionnaires Refund
(4 January 2002) |
|
In August 1997, around
1,800 Sci-Fi enthusiasts paid £333 per share, in what was hyped to be
the Future of the British Science Fiction film industry. If you were one of the British investors, who invested in the now defunct Legionnaires Plc Company, you have until 31 January 2002 to claim your tax refund. |
| £20bn
in unclaimed assets (16
November 2001) |
| As much as £20bn is lying forgotten in bank accounts and investments in the UK, according to recent research by consumer magazine What Investment. |
| Five
options for £30bn windfall
(26 October 2001) |
| The financial services authority yesterday tried to avert future criticism from consumers by raising the possibility that holders of life insurance policies might have a say in the distribution of an estimated £30bn windfall. |
| Battle
over treasure looms as divers locate £500m sunken ship
(10 September 2001) |
| A team of divers believe they have found the wreck of a 17th-century British warship that sank carrying treasure thought to be worth more than £500 million. |
| Ernie's
missing winners
(1 September 2001) |
| National Savings estimates that about £3 billion lies unclaimed, including nearly £20 million in Premium Bond prizes. |
| Nazi
loot fears over art works
(30 May 2001) |
| Glasgow City Council has confirmed that 232 of its works of art are on a list of suspected treasures looted by Nazis. The paintings and drawings include work by Picasso, Cezanne, Whistler and Degas. |
| Irish
Banks must surrender up to £300m in unclaimed cash
(19 May 2001) |
| Minister Charlie McCreevy is giving the banks a year to trace the owners of dormant accounts worth between £150m and £300m held in Irish institutions before he will seize the unclaimed cash for charitable and community projects. |
| Treasure
trove divers start with bell of Christmas ship
(18 May 2001) |
| A diving expedition has been mounted in the Faroe Islands to recover a treasure trove from a British vessel nicknamed the Christmas ship, which sank during the second world war after setting sail from Leith. |
| BSA
puts savers on trail of the forgotten £5bn
(14 May 2001) |
| Savers should find it easier to locate forgotten funds when schemes from the Building Societies Association (BSA) and British Bankers' Association (BBA) are launched today. |
| £20M
Pot Unclaimed (14 May 2001) |
| The mystery winner of the £20million Lottery Extra jackpot still hadn't claimed their money last night. Just one lucky ticket holder scooped Saturday's massive prize - the third-biggest win in the Lottery's history. |
| BBA
News Release - Help at hand to seek out dormant accounts
(8 May 2001) |
| Bank customers will find it easier to trace long-lost accounts through a new service being introduced by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) on May 14. The free service is an extension of the existing scheme that was introduced in 1998 and is designed to help where the customer is unsure which bank may have held the account or where the bank has since closed or merged. |
| Tax
break for frozen accounts
(4 May 2001) |
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The Government has confirmed that compensation paid by banks on unclaimed accounts, opened by Holocaust victims and frozen during World War II, will be paid tax free. |
| Unclaimed
and worth a fortune (4 May 2001) |
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Losing an investment might sound a difficult thing to do but in the UK there is more than £15bn in lost, or so-called unclaimed, assets. One-third of that, some £5bn, is in dormant savings accounts, about £3bn is in national savings, £4bn is in pensions and life policies and about £3bn is in shares and dividends. |
| Investors
fail to cash £400m in payouts
(3 May 2001) |
|
Up to £400 million is languishing in the unclaimed dividends accounts of UK companies because investors fail to cash in their cheques. |
| It
could've been you (2
May 2001) |
| When a big lottery prize goes unclaimed, dozens of people always call in to say they've lost the winning ticket. But Martyn and Kay Tott stood out in one major way - Camelot believed them. So how come it didn't pay up? |
| £3m
lottery losers' plea (29 April 2001) |
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The couple who missed scooping a £3m lottery jackpot because they lost their ticket say their win should count. Martyn and Kay Tott forfeited their prize because they failed to meet the 30-day cut-off point for claiming on lost tickets. |
| Widows
silent over unclaimed £180K windfall
(23 April 2001) |
|
A Scottish Widows policyholder has yet to claim his £183,196 demutualisation windfall eight months after the first payments started to go out. But, while the insurer claims to be very keen to track down the mystery man, it appears to be making little, if any, attempt to publicise the situation. |
| Lost
ticket costs lottery man £3m
(21 April 2001) |
| A Man has missed out on a £3 million National Lottery jackpot after losing the winning ticket and failing to make a claim in time, Camelot said yesterday. The lottery operator said that it could not pay out even though he had come forward on the eve of the 180-day deadline for unclaimed prizes. |
| Is
your savings account no longer operative?
(6 April 2001) |
| According to a recent investigation by the BBC’s Money Programme, almost £10bn lay untouched in UK dormant savings accounts. There are estimates that about one in four people may be owed some money. |
| Are
you the missing racecourse owner?
(2 March 2001) |
| After Arena Leisure bought out the Folkestone racecourse last year, they still cannot trace 4% of the original shareholders. Between them they own 10,000 shares worth £145,000 in total. |
| End
of the day for Extra windfall shares
(22 February 2001) |
| April 7th is the deadline, announced by the Halifax, for the 145,000 former members to claim their outstanding windfall shares. The estimated total worth is reported to be around £170m, which averages between £1,500 to £2,500 per owner. |
| £100m
still unclaimed in winter payments
(19 December 2000) |
| Nearly three quarters of a million men entitled to backdated winter fuel payments worth up to £140 each have failed to apply for them, according to ministers. |
| Find A
Fortune
(11 December 2000) |
| This must be one of the most rewarding shows and website since 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?' |
| More
delays at the B&B
(5 December 2000) |
| Compensation for those who wanted to sell on the first day and couldn't will be reviewed individually for any shortfall. |
|
All
systems go at the B&B
(17 November 2000)
|
| If failures at Scottish Widows weren't bad enough, the Bradford and Bingley is now experiencing the same. |
|
Autumn
windfalls proving hard to catch (27 October 2000)
|
| When Scottish Widows made the announcement it was to merge with the Lloyds TSB Group, the task of allocating correct windfall payments by the end of August was far too ambitious. |
| Orphan
Assets
(18 October 2000) |
| Orphan Assets are a bit of a confusing issue. On one hand they are assets that have been derived from unclaimed policies and on the other hand, are amounts held back from annual bonuses in the good years to build up reserves. |
|
Operation
Bumblebee (16
October 2000) |
| The Metropolitan Police have set up a new website to help people recover lost or stolen property, and includes functions which mail you if and when the potential item turns up. |
| Lost
touch with your Mutual shares?
(20 September 2000) |
| If the answer is yes, then we may be able to help you track them down. |
| Where
Are You? (16
August 2000) |
| The search is on for two lost policy holders who are unaware of their unclaimed fortunes. |
|
Unclaimed
Scottish Widows policies (16
August 2000) |
| The quality of Scottish Widows' address data is generally high, and therefore most policyholders are contacted when their policy matures. However, there are occasions when, despite its best efforts, Scottish Widows is unable to trace policyholders. |
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Unclaimed
Woolwich shares - is time running out?
(10 July 2000) |
| Only this week Woolwich announced that unclaimed shares worth around £72 million are to be liquidated in October this year if the owners don't take possession. |
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Unclaimed UK
Premium Bonds
(15
June 2000) |
| Ever wondered if 'Ernie' had pulled your numbers and didn't tell you? Did you forget to inform him you had changed your address? |
| Unclaimed
Treasures (22
April 2000) |
| West Yorkshire Police are anxious to trace the owner of a French bronze statue that was recovered during a police operation in the Huddersfield area. |
| Are
you in line for SERPS compensation ?
(30
March 2000) |
| The government has announced plans to compensate thousands of victims of poor advice given by the Department of Social Security and its Benefit Offices around the UK. |
|
Missing
windfalls are a phone call away!
(12 March 2000) |
| Were you a customer of the Alliance & Leicester Building Society. About 70,000 Alliance & Leicester customers have failed to collect an average of £1,300 each in shares. |
|
Sids, please
call and Collect £14m
(23
February 2000) |
| Tens of thousands of Sids, the UK’s small shareholders who rushed to buy into the old British Gas when privatised in 1986 but kept their stock, have gone missing - and they are owed a lot of money. |
| Stolen
Fortunes for Sale!
(19 February 2000) |
| Ever wondered where the stolen fortunes end up, when recovered by the police and cannot be traced ? |
| £15bn
in search of owners
(10 December 1999) |
| The search is on for the owners of more than £15bn worth of unclaimed assets. Spearheading the search is the Unclaimed Assets Register. |
| 'Unclaimed
Millions' held by British courts (4
November 1999) |
| The British courts system holds nearly £10m of people's money with no idea of who it belongs to, an inquiry has found. |
| Dividends or Bills ?
(2
November 1999) |
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No wonder Registrars are sitting on cheques still unclaimed ! |
| Please forward any news of Missing Fortunes or Unclaimed Property to News@MissingFortunes.Com |
