Not upheld: account location and access to dormant accounts complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr L complained that Barclays wrongly took his money and failed to provide information about dormant savings and deposit accounts he claimed to have held since around 1987, estimated to contain £250,000. After living abroad for many years, Mr L attempted to access these funds but Barclays could only locate one account with a £100 balance. Barclays conducted extensive searches through its Dormancy Team and 'My lost account' service but found no other accounts matching the information provided. The ombudsman found that Barclays' searches were thorough and reasonable, and that Mr L's failure to provide any documentary evidence despite claiming to possess documents showing substantial balances undermined his claim. The complaint was not upheld as there was insufficient evidence that the accounts existed or that Barclays acted unfairly.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Barclays conducted thorough and reasonable searches of its records, including dormant accounts, and was unable to locate any accounts beyond the one £100 account identified. The ombudsman concluded that without evidence of the accounts' existence, such as bank statements, it cannot be established that the accounts still exist or that Barclays acted wrongly. The ombudsman noted that Mr L's claim to possess documents showing substantial balances but failure to provide any such evidence to FOS suggests these documents do not exist. The accounts dating back nearly 40 years and Barclays' compliance with data protection regulations regarding document retention were considered reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website