The £21m unclaimed 'goldmine'

£21.6m of prize money remains unclaimed

by Nathalie Knowles BBC Radio 4

Thousands of people are missing out on their money by neglecting to claim their windfalls.

National Savings and Investments says a total of £21.6m of premium bond prizes remains unclaimed.

The savings and investments provider has enhanced its website in an effort to reunite more people with their money.

People who have lost or forgotten premium bonds can download a tracing form, and instruct the NS&I to carry out a free search.

'Goldmine'

National Savings and Investments Commercial Director Gill Cattanach said:

"There are thousands of people across the UK who could be sitting on a goldmine and do not know it."

Visitors to the site can also check to see if they have won a prize in the last six months by simply keying in their premium bond holder number.

There have been 101 winners of the N&SI jackpot of £1m since 1994 and since 1957 a total of 96.4m prizes have been awarded.

Moving home

Earlier this year, a survey commissioned by N&SI found that one in seven people forget to give their financial providers a forwarding address when they move home.

This is believed to be one of the main reasons that people lose touch with their money.

Gill Cattanach explained: "Moving home is so stressful that a significant number of British savers and investors forget their money".

The tracing service, launched in November 2001, reunited savers with £2 million of lost money in the first six months.

In one case the holder of an old savings certificate had passed away but their next of kin was reunited with £216,000.

How to initiate a trace

To initiate a trace, customers should complete the Tracing Service request form.

You will not find the form in post offices but you can obtain it in a number of ways:

by downloading the form from the NSI website

by calling the NSI Customer enquiry line on 0845 964 5000

by writing to National Savings, FREEPOST BJ2092, Blackpool, FY3 9XR

by e-mail