This post may contain affiliate links which may compensate us based on your interaction. Please read the disclosures for more information.
When a bank account seems neglected, the institution housing it can close it. Read on to learn how this might affect you.
Image source: Getty Images
Some people transact in their bank accounts every week, whether it’s taking a withdrawal from a checking account or putting money into a savings account. But it may be that you have an account you don’t really use all that much.
Maybe you opened a savings account years ago, as a young adult, to deposit your holiday gift checks. If you’ve since gotten a job and steady paycheck, you may have opened a checking and savings account at a different bank, leaving your original savings account to largely sit untouched.
Save: This credit card has one of the longest 0% intro APR periods around
More: Save while you pay off debt with one of these top-rated balance transfer credit cards
Nothing will happen if you don’t make any transactions in a bank account for a few weeks. And usually, nothing will come of it if you ignore your bank account for a few months. But if you don’t touch your bank account for years, there’s a good chance it will be closed — whether you want that to happen or not.
When there’s nothing doing in your bank account
Let’s say your only banking activity in the course of a given year is to transfer $5 into your savings account every month. That alone should be enough to keep your account active, which means the bank housing that account should not take any steps to close it out. But if you go years without doing anything in your bank account, then you should expect it to be closed at some point.
And to be clear, even if you have a savings account that’s earning interest, those interest credits may not count as activity. Rather, you might need to make deposits or take withdrawals for your account to be considered active.
If your account is inactive for too long, your bank might opt to close your account. Usually, they’ll send a letter to your address on record letting you know this.
If you’re no longer at that address, though, you may not get that correspondence. And if your bank can’t reach you, it can’t confirm a way to give you the money you have in your account. In that scenario, you risk having your bank turn your funds over to your state as unclaimed property.
What to do if you think your old bank account was closed
It might dawn on you that you have a savings account with a few hundred dollars in it that you haven’t touched in years. If that’s the case, call the bank and see what the status of your account is. Your bank should be able to tell you whether the account is still open or not. If it’s still open, they should be able to find a way to give you access by verifying your personal information, like your Social Security number.
Otherwise, if your bank account has been closed, your bank probably won’t just hand over the money that was left in it upon its closure. You can, however, use a site like MissingMoney to try to reclaim your funds.
It’s estimated that 1 in 7 consumers have unclaimed property. So it certainly pays to go after money from a bank account you ignored or forgot about.
These savings accounts are FDIC insured and could earn you 12x your bank
Many people are missing out on guaranteed returns as their money languishes in a big bank savings account earning next to no interest. Our picks of the best online savings accounts can earn you 12x the national average savings account rate. Click here to uncover the best-in-class picks that landed a spot on our shortlist of the best savings accounts for 2023.
We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
