How do you find a lost or dormant ISA?

How do I find a lost ISA?

Start with what you already have. An old statement, letter or passbook may name the provider, and the provider can search its own records for an ISA in your name. Give it any previous names and addresses: My Lost Account notes that an account opened many years ago may have been in a previous name or at a previous address. The same steps apply to an old ISA you forgot about and to a lost ISA account at a provider you no longer deal with.

If you cannot find a name, the free tracing routes depend on where the ISA was held.

You do not need to pay a tracing firm for any of these. My Lost Account tells people not to pay a fee of any kind, NS&I says its Tracing Service is free to use, and gov.uk says you do not need to pay a company to find a Child Trust Fund.

A Child Trust Fund is a different account from an ISA. gov.uk says HMRC’s tool names the provider, not the balance, and cannot be used to find a Junior ISA. See our Child Trust Fund guide.

The numbers that matter

Dormant bank, building society or Cash ISA account

15 years

No transactions by, or on the instructions of, the holder

My Lost Account response

3 months

Its FAQs say to expect a response within three months

NS&I Tracing Service aim

1 month

From receiving the application, and longer at busy times

Overall ISA allowance, 2026/27

£20,000

Money already in an old ISA does not use it

How do I find an old Cash ISA with a bank or building society?

If you know the provider, ask it first: My Lost Account says it can only trace accounts marked as lost. If you do not know it, gov.uk names My Lost Account as a way to trace dormant bank accounts. It describes itself as a free service bringing together the tracing schemes of UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and NS&I, and is for UK personal accounts only.

You set up an online profile and complete a search form, which asks for the details in the table above and which provider you think held the account. Its FAQs say to expect a response within three months, that a provider that finds an account will ask you to verify your identity, and that if your bank or building society has closed or merged you should select the original provider from the drop-down menu.

The service describes bank and building society accounts and NS&I products, and does not mention ISAs by name. gov.uk says Cash ISAs can include bank and building society savings, and that the banking side of the dormant assets scheme includes accounts held within a Cash ISA. Its FAQs mention a free text notes field for extra details, where you can say the account may have been a Cash ISA.

How do I find a lost NS&I ISA?

NS&I says its Cash ISA and T Cash ISA closed on 25 May 2013 and all accounts moved to a Direct ISA, so an old NS&I Cash ISA is now a Direct ISA. Its page on tracking down lost savings gives three routes: write to NS&I with your details, use its Tracing Service form online or on paper, or apply through My Lost Account.

The form lists ISA among the products NS&I can search for. NS&I’s brochure says the service is free to use, has no time limits when making a claim, and that savings stay registered in the original customer’s name. NS&I aims to confirm accounts within a month of receiving an application, though it may take longer at busy times. Its July 2025 press release lists 367 ISAs traced in 2024/25, worth £1,486,339 in total.

How do I find an old Stocks and Shares ISA?

Contact the provider. My Lost Account covers bank and building society accounts and NS&I products, not investment providers. If you do not know who held it, gov.uk says owners of investments can use the Investment Association’s Unclaimed Assets Portal, or contact firms directly using the sector’s searchable list. The Investment Association describes the portal as a free service that checks your details against records its member firms have made available. Its page does not mention ISAs by name, so the provider remains the direct route. See Stocks and Shares ISAs for how they work.

What happens to a dormant ISA nobody has touched for years?

Leaving an ISA alone does not remove its tax-free status. gov.uk says your ISAs do not close when the tax year finishes, and that you keep your savings tax-free for as long as the money stays in them. For why the account has no expiry date, even though the yearly allowance does, see does an ISA expire.

What changes is how the provider treats the account. gov.uk says a firm’s first priority is to reunite owners with their assets, for example by tracing them through Royal Mail or a credit reference agency. If the asset is classed as dormant and cannot be reunited, the firm can transfer it to Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) under the Dormant Assets Scheme. Taking part is voluntary for firms. gov.uk says the Dormant Assets Act 2022 expanded the scheme to investment and wealth management assets. RFL says it opened the scheme to those firms in 2025, though the Investment Association’s page, updated in October 2025, expected the part covering invested assets to open in 2026.

The 15 years comes from gov.uk and HMRC’s guidance for ISA managers, which adds that a Junior ISA cannot be a relevant dormant account. The 12 and 6 years are RFL’s figures for investments. The government’s response to its consultation says the investment assets in scope include those held within a Stocks and Shares ISA, and defines “gone away” as an owner whose contact details a firm has lost faith in, for example because post has been returned.

The money stays yours. gov.uk says owners can reclaim what they would have been owed had the transfer not happened, at any time. RFL cannot search for accounts or verify ownership for individuals, so a claim goes through the provider or My Lost Account, and RFL says it will never reach out to customers directly.

For an ISA, HMRC’s guidance says repayment from RFL is not liable to tax, and recovered money can go into any type of ISA without counting towards the annual limit, except a Lifetime ISA. RFL says a Cash ISA’s tax wrapper survives both the transfer and a later reclaim. For investments, the government’s response says an owner who reclaims receives a cash payment, valued when the reclaim is verified, not the investment itself.

Can I still pay into an old ISA?

Possibly, if the provider’s terms allow it. HMRC’s guidance for ISA managers says that since 6 April 2024 an ISA application stays valid for payments in any tax year in which the saver is eligible to subscribe, including a year with no payment. A saver who has been non-UK resident should declare that they are now UK resident, with a permanent UK address.

The manager may impose conditions, such as a minimum lump sum, so ask whether the account still takes new payments. From 6 April 2027, any ISA account receiving a payment will need a National Insurance number, or a declaration that the saver is not eligible for one.

Does finding an old ISA use this year’s ISA allowance?

No. gov.uk says every tax year you can save up to £20,000 across your ISAs. That limit applies to money you pay in during the year, so the money already in an old ISA does not use it. HMRC’s guidance says a transfer is not a new subscription either. New money you pay in this tax year does count. See the ISA allowance.

What if the ISA belonged to someone who has died?

The executor or personal representative acts. NS&I says you can only ask for a trace for someone else if you are legally entitled to act for them, for example as an executor, and its form asks for the date of death. My Lost Account asks executors and next of kin for a date of death, and its FAQs say the first contact should be the person’s bank or building society, with NS&I products raised with NS&I directly. HMRC’s guidance says personal representatives of a deceased account holder have a right to repayment from RFL if a dormant ISA has been closed. For tax after a death, see what happens to your ISA when you die.

What can I do once I have found the ISA?

You can transfer it. gov.uk says you can transfer all or part of an ISA to another provider at any time, by contacting the provider you want to move to and filling out its transfer form. If you withdraw the money instead, gov.uk says you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance. HMRC’s guidance says all the tax benefits are preserved in a transfer, gov.uk says providers may charge, and a transfer between Cash ISAs should take no longer than 15 working days. See how an ISA transfer works.

To compare an old Cash ISA’s rate with what is on offer now, check our Cash ISA table. Rates change, so compare before moving. HMRC had planned to block transfers from non-Cash ISAs, such as a Stocks and Shares ISA, into Cash ISAs for savers under 65 from 6 April 2027, but that block is unconfirmed after the Budget. See also how many ISAs you can have, the ISA rules and ISA and FSCS protection.