A website designed to reunite people with forgotten funds has seen an unprecedented surge in traffic, attracting tens of thousands of visitors in a single day.
The My Lost Account service, run by finance and banking body UK Finance, recorded more than 75,000 visits on Tuesday – a dramatic increase from its typical 1,000 daily users.
The platform, which helps trace lost bank and building society accounts and NS&I products, posted a notice warning of potential delays for registration and login emails due to “high volumes of user registrations”.
While the site remained operational, the advisory addressed some issues with new registrations.
This heightened interest follows recent media coverage, including savings giant NS&I’s disclosure that over 2.5 million Premium Bond prizes, worth more than £103 million, remain unclaimed.
This includes 11 £100,000 prizes, 19 £50,000 prizes, 38 £25,000 prizes, and 75 £10,000 prizes, underscoring the significant sums awaiting their owners.
An NS&I spokesperson said on Wednesday: “We often see increased demand for these services when there is heightened publicity around NS&I products.”
NS&I said previously that in the financial year 2024-25, more than £166 million was reunited through 52,693 NS&I accounts for holders who had lost touch with their savings and investments, thanks to NS&I’s tracing service and My Lost Account.
The free My Lost Account Service is available for tracing UK-based personal accounts.
My Lost Account aims to help those who do not know the provider that holds their account.
Its website says that if someone is aware of the bank or building society that holds their account, or if they are aware of the NS&I account or any Premium Bond or other product numbers, they should approach the organisations directly.
The website says people should “not pay a fee of any kind” to undertake the search for their lost bank, building society or NS&I account.
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Consumer group Which? has previously called for NS&I to sign up to the Government’s Tell Us Once service, to help simplify the process of notifying different organisations after a death.
NS&I said previously that it is not part of the service, which it said “focuses on updating government departments that provide services such as benefits, passports and pensions, rather than banking services and investments, which often require more individualised contact with executors”.
The Treasury-backed provider said earlier this week: “We recognise that dealing with bereavement can be challenging and are committed to making our services as easy to use as possible, especially during difficult events such as the death of a loved one.”
