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Without realizing it, thousands of Belgians still have funds in their name that sleep in the Deposit and Consignment Office of the FPS Finance. Because no one asks or knows who it belongs to. But how do you know if you still have money and how can you recover it?
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Thierry Goeman
Today at 12:20–
“Dorting balances can include accounts, insurance contracts, and the contents of safe-deposit boxes that have been transferred to the Deposit and Consignment Office because their beneficiaries have demonstrably become inactive. It can be money that has been lost from sight (e.g. an old account that has been forgotten) or money that has been unknowingly deposited in an account in favor of a person (e.g. in the context of an inheritance) without who is aware himself,” says Francis Adyns of the FPS Finance.
How can it come to this?
Possibly because the account holder does not even know that it exists, for example because the savings account was once opened by the (grand)parents, without informing the (grand)children about it. In other words, the (grand)parents have saved for years without (grand)children knowing that a piggy bank is waiting for them.
Or because the bank, usually a different one than the one where you are a customer, has no current address and telephone details of the holder and cannot make contact.
In the case of inheritances, it often happens that the civil-law notary discovers dormant assets during his investigation into the estate. The beneficiaries of a deceased usually leave it to the notary to search, but they can also do it themselves.
For example, the sector federation Febelfin a service ‘Bankresearch’whereby you as an heir or group of heirs can have a look up whether someone was a customer of one or more banks during a period of three years before his or her death.
Also at the FPS Finance you can check whether the bank has given ‘dormant accounts’ in your name to the government.
“Where it was already possible to look up these dormant credits via MyMinfinit is now also possible to recover them 100% digitally via e-DEPO”, says the FPS Finance.
Please note: from the moment the credits were transferred to the Deposit and Consignment Office, you have 30 years to reclaim the credits that are due to you. After this period, the funds will definitely revert to the Treasury. The amount that you can reclaim must also be at least 60 euros.
These dormant balances still bear interest when they have been transferred to the Deposit and Consignment Office, according to the website of the FPS Finance. However, the interest rate set by the Minister of Finance is … 0%.
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