Formants Accounts And Shares

[newbie99]

What constitutes dormant accounts and shares?

Is my ISA account dormant as I am leaving it untouched for a number of years?
Similarly, my shares are untouched held by Halifax as crest. Are these considered dormant and the government can take them away from me.?

[ubasses]

As far as Bank accounts are concerned an account can be classed as dormant if it has not been used for a certain time. Different Banks have different time limits, but they must all write to you to ask whether you want the account to continue. It is mainly people they have lost contact with whose accounts are closed, so as long as your current address is on their records, there should not be a problem. Even if an account is closed you still have a right to claim the money at any time in the future, and it will be reimbursed including any interest to date.

[Buenchico]

A bank or building society account is legally regarded as 'dormant' if no transactions have been made for a period of 15 years. [Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008]. The legislation only relates to such accounts, so ISAs and holdings in shares can't legally become 'dormant'.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/31/contents

Money from dormant accounts can be used to help good causes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42557319

However if the account holder later wishes to claim his/her money, he/she can still do so.

[Guilbert53]

It is a bad idea to leave an ISA dormant for a number of years.

Most ISAs only pay a decent interest rate for the first year or two (depending what you signed up for).

After that year or two the interest rate drops alarmingly and you may find you are only getting 0.10% or even less.

It is easy to"move" an ISA to a more modern one at the same bank that will pay a better interest rate. I use online banking and can do it in minutes.

But if you go in the branch they can also do it.

You will still probably only get 1.0% at the moment but that is better than 0.10%