Missing millions

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

The Rugby based Heir Hunters Association (HHA) which represents the interests of over 250 researchers of unclaimed estates and assets has launched a new web site.

Missing Millions sets out to reunite unclaimed financial assets with their rightful owners in a simple, efficient and economical way.

The simple concept allows financial organisations ranging from banks, building societies, PLCs and mutual associations to post to the site details of assets such as dormant bank accounts, pensions, saving plans and life policies which remain unclaimed.

With potentially hundreds of thousands of such assets worth billions of pounds lying unclaimed the money is becoming an embarrassment to many of the asset holding firms.

There are three main reasons for financial assets being unclaimed:

1. The owner moves and forgets to update their address details

2. The owner is simply unaware that the assets exist, such as a lapsed endowment policy

3. The owner has died and their estate does not discover the asset

Members of the public can make free online searches based on various criteria which may result in one or more assets being traced; they can then subscribe to the site and communicate with the Asset Holder and obtain further details or submit a claim, which can usually be paid out quite quickly.

Researcher Members of the HHA can opt to research an asset and track down the rightful owners using detailed information on the asset obtained from the secure site. Fees for a successful trace can be negotiated generally on a strict no win no fee basis.

Maurice Clarke, founder of the site and Chair of the HHA with members across the world is currently leading a number of UK regional seminars in Coventry, Leeds and Reading to launch the service to the financial world and current HHA researcher members who have already shown interest in the project, explains;

“Many of these assets have remained unclaimed for decades, often accumulating interest and bonuses and with no time limit a massive windfall could be waiting for hundreds of thousands of entitled people.“