How can I find bank accounts in my name?

If you’ve ever opened more than one bank account in the past, could you have forgotten about some money that you’ve left behind, which is still waiting to be claimed? And if you think you might have, or if you’re not quite sure, how can you go about finding these outstanding accounts and claiming this unclaimed money?

There are many reasons to open extra bank accounts or to change banks:

• You may have started out with the childhood bank account your parents opened for you at school, only to switch to a different bank once you started earning your own money.
• Perhaps you switched to a bank offering an attractive interest rate on their savings account.
• Maybe you opened multiple accounts to split your money into separate “buckets”.
• Or you could have saved up enough to apply for a home loan with a package deal, and switched banks to the mortgage provider.

Some of these old bank accounts could remain open in your name. 

In Australia, bank accounts are deemed to be lost or inactive if there has been no account activity for a continuous period of seven years. If the bank doesn’t charge annual fees, they could even still have some money in them that you’d forgotten about.  

One of the simplest ways to look for bank accounts in your name would be to contact your old banks and lenders individually and ask if you still appear on their records anywhere. To help the bank staff in their search, you may need to provide some personal information, such as your name and address (possibly an old address that appears on their records) or identification details.

Another option could be to go to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which holds money from bank, credit union and building society accounts that haven’t been used in seven years and contain a balance of $500 or more.

You can use the Unclaimed Money Search Tool on ASIC’s MoneySmart website to check for unclaimed bank accounts, as well as lost super, shares, insurance, and other financial products.

To use this tool, simply enter your name and the tool will show you unclaimed balances relating to that name. Keep in mind that there may be others sharing your name in Australia – be sure you’re looking at the right entries before you continue. 

If you do find inactive bank accounts with unclaimed money that might belong to you, you can take the following steps:

1. Record your Original Transaction Number (OTN): This number will help you find the record again in the future.
2. Confirm bank details: Work out which bank you’ll need to contact about your account.
3. Contact the bank: The bank’s unclaimed money officer will tell you what information you’ll need to provide to confirm your identity and process your claim, such as driver's licence, passport, bank statements, or passbook.
4. Bank processes your claim: Once your claim is approved by the bank and they have contacted ASIC, it usually takes 28 days to release the funds to the bank so they can pay you.

You could also consider contacting the public trustee in your state or territory. These government bodies manage money from wills, trusts, deceased estates, share dividends and more:

• ACT: Public Trustee and Guardian
• NSW: Revenue New South Wales
• QLD: Public Trustee
• SA: Department of Treasury and Finance
• TAS: Public Trustee
• VIC: State Revenue Office
• WA: Department of Treasury

Even if you’re confident that your finances are under control, it may still be worth checking for lost and unclaimed money in your name. You never know what you’ll find until you look!

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