Blog - Consumer

Tracing your lost assets

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 15:54:00 GMT

It is easy nowadays for you to lose track of your assets and it can be difficult for financial institutions to keep up with their increasingly mobile customer base. You may have moved address and not notified your bank, or even had an account opened for you as a child that you didn't know about until recently.

No matter what has happened, an asset that is marked as yours is still yours, and our institutional clients want to do their best to keep up to date with your changing circumstances. How can we help make sure you are connected?

Vestigium supplies its clients with an extensive tracing service for the strict purpose of asset reunification.

We re-research information on our client’s lost customers to provide them with up-to-date contact details so that they can communicate effectively and ensure assets do not become ‘unclaimed’ or ‘lost’.

You can help us help you by volunteering some simple personal details (names and historic addresses) to Vestigium Services’ consumer database. This service is 100% free to the consumer and we will never ask you for payment details of any kind. Our business is supported by fees paid by our client base.

Volunteering your details will improve our researchers’ chances of locating you should you appear on one of our clients’ lists of lost customers. We will never use your details for anything but asset reunification.

We will continue to screen your volunteered details against details of lost customers. In the meantime, there are things you can do to help yourself locate lost assets/policies or to stay in touch with assets/policies you already have. To get you started, we have put together a breakdown of where you can start, or simply if want to check what you do have and where.

Financial Accounts

The best way to keep track of all accounts is to simply write them down. Make a list of all your accounts and policies, then attach it to the front of all your paperwork. Keep it in a secure and safe place. That way when you need to reach out you have a clear understanding of your position.

Stocks & Shares

If you have only dabbled in stocks in the past, it can be hard to keep track of what a company is doing now and what that stock is worth. Businesses are always evolving, being taken over or rebranding. This can make it very difficult for shareholders to keep track of their investments as well. We suggest contacting companies directly as they will keep a record of all their shareholders. If you need a new certificate, they can do that too.

Insurance Policies

For the latest information regarding your insurance policy, you could either contact the company directly, speak to their trading association or more simply, let us do the work for you with our tracing service.

Work with Vestigium

Help us help you. It is our mission to keep financial institutions in contact with their customers or to help re-connect the lines of communication where contact has been lost.

We work to save you time and effort in writing to multiple different providers looking for something which is lost, and we do it FOR FREE.

Register your details here

Rights Buying Abroad

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 20:28:00 GMT

September has hit us, the summer season has well and truly gone and we can confidently say that 2021 has been another rollercoaster.

Some of you might now be looking at making big changes in your lives and we champion that. One of those changes might be to move abroad. Whether that's to capture more of the summer sun, enjoy a new lifestyle, seek new employment or just want a change after the recent challenging times. People move and buy property abroad for many reasons.

In 2018, according to the Office of National Statistics, 66% of the 785,000 Brits living in an EU country were of working age (16-64). How Brexit and COVID have impacted that figure is yet to be seen. Whatever the motivation, you need to consider the potential risks, what rights you have and understand all the processes involved.

We advise that you always seek professional help before making any big decisions, but to help you out, here are some things to think about.

Banks & Pensions

When you leave the UK, you can keep using your UK bank account, but you might find it easier to open one in the country where you are now living. This can help get rid of regular transaction fees and make your everyday life a little easier. It also helps to keep this open, should you plan on moving back to the UK at any point.

As for your pension, we know you might have a few more concerns. There are many options open to you, including transferring your pension into a scheme abroad. In terms of a state pension, you can still receive this if you have contributed to national insurance. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) release into lost pensions (2018) detailed that there is likely £20bn in aggregate value in lost pensions alone. This is a staggering 50 times the previous estimate of £400 Million.

Overseas tracing can be notoriously difficult. If you are worried about losing touch with your financial assets, you can become a member of the consumer database. This will help ensure that you stay in touch with your finances whether in the UK or abroad.

HMRC & Student Loans

It's quite common for someone to think that when they leave the UK, they no longer have to pay any tax. Sadly, this isn't true. Whilst expats might be exempt from certain taxes, it doesn't mean you won't have to pay any income tax. You can contact HMRC regarding what you might need to pay.

For student loans, you need to contact the Student Loans Company and they will let you know if you need to pay anything whilst abroad. If you do, you will then need to make payments online or by international bank transfer.

Mortgages & Utilities

Make sure to contact your utility provider (gas, electric, water etc) to inform them of your new address. For your mortgage, contact your provider also to ensure that you are not breaking the terms of your loan agreement.

Selling Your Property

Whilst selling your home might be an obvious solution when moving abroad, you might leave yourself in a difficult situation should things not work out. You could look at renting your property to bring in some extra income. Whatever you decide to do, the rules and taxes surrounding this will be different depending on what country you are moving to. Make sure to research the property market and speak with local estate agents - spend the same amount of time as you would when buying a property at home.

Moving abroad but want to keep in touch with your assets?

Register with Vestigium today.

Worsening poverty crisis whilst £50billion in lost assets go unclaimed

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 19:00:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on everyone’s lives, whether it has changed the way we work and learn, prohibited us from spending much-needed time with family or made us meticulous about personal hygiene.

Some of the worst affected however have been low-income and vulnerable families, with the latest figures estimating that more than 15 million people (23% of the population) are living in poverty in the UK alone. Whilst the government has taken some actions throughout the pandemic to support us financially such as the furlough scheme and a temporary £20 per week boost to Universal Credit, it has not prevented hundreds of thousands of families from falling below the poverty line.

This is despite the fact that there is over £50billion of assets currently lost or unclaimed in the UK.

What happens to lost assets?

Whether it’s a pension, a dormant bank account or an unclaimed estate, the assets will still belong to the owner and financial institutions spend a lot of time trying to reunite people with their lost accounts.

However, the new year has seen a major expansion to the Dormant Assets Scheme, which is aiming to boost Coronavirus recovery through unlocking an extra £800million for communities across the UK.

What is the Dormant Assets Scheme?

The scheme is led by the financial industry and backed by the government with the aim of reuniting people with the lost or dormant financial assets. Where financial institutions such as banks, building societies and pension providers cannot reconnect dormant accounts with their owners, they can choose to transfer funds into the Dormant Assets Scheme which aims to tackle rising issues including youth unemployment and problem debt.

Whilst the scheme should be celebrated for the support it offers, these businesses’ first priority will always be to reunite owners with their assets, many of whom are vulnerable customers or the same people the Dormant Assets Scheme aims to support.

How can Vestigium Services help?

We work with financial service organisations to help them trace ‘gone away’ customers or beneficiaries of deceased customers. Not only do we provide a Live Archiving Repository which periodically researches un-found gone aways against continuously updating data sources, we also offer a free service to consumers which will compare their information with the details of our clients’ lost customers.

Register today and let us help you reunite with your money or find out whether you are entitled to financial services products that belonged to your parents, grandparents, or other relatives.

How Fintech is Changing The Landscape of The Financial Industry

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:21:00 GMT

Fintech, a concatenation of “Finance” and “Technology”, is a term coined for any business that develops and implements technologies to enhance or automate key aspects of Financial Institutions’ processes and/or services. Unlike traditional, slow-paced financial solutions, fintech companies focus on providing instant, scalable, on-demand solutions, giving asset management control back to the consumer. With the younger generation expecting a seamless experience for every transaction, application and aspect of their financial journey, financial institutions need to step up their game to streamline their services and ensure they meet the demands of the digital age.

How fintech is shaping financial services

Initially, when the term Fintech was coined at the turn of the century, it applied to the technology employed at the back-end systems of established financial institutions, but it now refers to solutions that have been developed for use across many sectors such as not-for-profit and educational services. An article written by Built In explores the symbiotic relationship between technology and financial institutions specifically,

“Fintech is not a new industry, it’s just one that has evolved very quickly. Technology has, to some degree, always been part of the financial world, whether it's the introduction of credit cards in the 1950s or ATMs, electronic trading floors, personal finance apps and high-frequency trading in the decades that followed.”

Every member of a developed country has likely used Fintech at some point in their lives. From the humble beginnings of ATMs, we are now spoilt for choice when it comes to trading apps, digital wallets and finance checkers, and we can expect the closure of many more physical high street bank branches in the coming years.

Fintech companies are on the rise

Companies that build and develop fintech are on the rise providing efficient and streamlined solutions that challenge and optimise traditional banking and payment services, driving real change in the industry. According to Beauhurst, a searchable database of the UK's high-growth companies,

“Fintech, or financial technology, is the UK’s strongest startup sector, with more investment funnelled into it than any other industry or vertical. A total of 1,373 fintech companies have hit at least one of our 8 tracking triggers since 2011, and collectively they’ve raised £14.9b in equity funding.”

Fintech is a fast-paced sector that is driving innovation in place of traditional, slow-paced methods and giving consumers more control over their finances with on-demand solutions. To find out more, visit this blog from Beauhurst, where you can explore the Top 50 Fintech Startups and Scale-ups in the UK in 2021.

How fintech is shaping asset and wealth management

An article by PWC warns what may become of companies that fail to evolve and implement new technologies.

“Asset and wealth managers should watch FinTech companies closely and adopt a responsive digital strategy. Otherwise, they face losing part of their business to new entrants.”

In their recent report, Beyond automated advice: How FinTech is shaping asset & wealth management, PWC’s research found that financial institutions implementing fintech solutions had focussed predominantly on automation of asset allocation

“by providing bespoke but affordable services to help investors set their investment goals, choose the right product or service and manage their investment portfolios”

Giving more control of finances and asset management to the consumer enables people to make their own decisions and find solutions that suit themselves, enabling them to respond quickly to unexpected eventualities, like a broken boiler or a loss of income. Consumers are now actively seeking out simpler solutions to their finances so that they can be as adaptive and reactive as possible.

How to help your financial institution repay monies

There is also one huge benefit of Fintech developments and applications; it’s helping Financial Institutions reconnect and keep in touch with their lost customers. Vestigium has industrialised the process of forensic tracing for asset reunification and/or re-engagement with Gone Away customers, specifically targeted to the Financial Services Industry. This reduces the scale of the issue, fast. Vestigium provides a Live Archiving Repository which periodically re-researches currently un-found gone aways against continuously updating data sources including the Vestigium Services consumer database. Vestigium believes this ongoing methodology helps institutions meet regulations including the FCA’s Principle 6, Treating Customers Fairly, and assists firms to meet the guidelines set out on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers.

Register today and let us help you reunite with your money or find out whether you are entitled to financial services products that belonged to your parents, grandparents or other relatives. Register your family's details FOR FREE and we will compare your information with the details of our caring client's lost customers to help you claim back lost assets, pensions and accounts. Remember that your parents, grandparents, or other relatives may have held financial services products that you are unaware of but entitled to, so it’s always worth checking to see if you’re due an unexpected remuneration.

Vestigium’s Response to The Sunday Times Article by George Nixon (4th July) - Half a billion pounds is sitting unclaimed in trust funds

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 14:27:00 GMT

In a recent article by George Nixon, which can be found in The Times, it was discovered that over half a billion pounds is sat, unclaimed in Child Trust Funds (CTFs). Child Trust Funds were set up by the Labour government in 2005 and automatically opened for children born between September 1st 2002 and January 2nd 2011 with a £250 contribution (£500 for low-income families). £554million is currently held in mature savings accounts and Child Trust Funds (CTF) of 18-year-olds with 3 out of 5 CTFs remaining untouched. While some accounts have been claimed or rolled into other products and services the majority of young people are not aware of these accounts or are unable to access them.

Paul Aggett CEO Vestigium Services Has Some Thoughts on unclaimed child trust funds

Many of these young people are seeking further education or employment opportunities and this money could greatly help. The recipient young men and women are, in the majority of cases, no longer at their home address and their parents may well have moved address as well in the intervening period. The administration fees charged by the CTF providers, even at the top end, make the forensic tracing of the individuals cost-prohibitive to the CTF providers. Furthermore, I agree with Nigel Banfield’s statement in the article that, “children turning 18 have very little financial footprint” and this, coupled with the lack of information recorded on minors, makes tracing them very difficult.

The Vestigium Solution to unclaimed Child Trust Funds

Vestigium has a simple digital solution where names, addresses and former addresses are input voluntarily by the general public creating a large database of customer data. Vestigium will match this information to the CTF provider’s name and address file For Free, making consumers aware of any assets or accounts they may have lost track of. Vestigium charges the recipients nothing for these services. It is free for consumers and always will be. We don’t believe that it should cost you to claim back money or assets to which you are entitled.

What’s in it for Vestigium?

Simply put, it is the right thing to do. Doing something for the public benefit should not be foreign to any of us. As I point out to my caring financial services customers, brand and reputation is enhanced by positive action, not words. Vestigium has already built a consumer solution that works to reunify consumers with lost assets, regardless of the financial policy type. We meet all GDPR data security requirements including not using the data received for any other reason than this legitimate interest to enable financial services organisations to re-engage with their consumers and track goneaway and deceased accounts.

Is It a Scam?

Scams are something we should all be aware of, particularly where someone is stating that a product or service is free! I am not afraid or upset by the question, it is the right question to ask. Vestigium depends on the trust and reputation that we have worked tirelessly to build. I welcome CTF Providers to carry out their Due Diligence procedures, as have all my caring clients. A due diligence FAQs document is available at request. To the young men and women who will benefit from reclaiming their Child Trust Fund set up for them, Vestigium only needs your full name, date of birth, current and past addresses in order to help reunite you with your lost assets. Vestigium does not, and will not, handle monies or payment details. You can learn more about the process and how we work on our website.

How can I Locate a Child’s Trust fund?

Register your details FOR FREE and we will compare your information with the details of our caring client's lost customers to help you claim back lost assets, CTFs, pensions and accounts or find out whether you are entitled to financial services products that belonged to your parents, grandparents or other relatives. If you’re a CTF provider, get in touch to see how we can work together to reduce the number of unclaimed accounts, clear up your data and give control back to your consumers.

Further Questions

If you have any queries or would like to discuss anything in further detail, please contact us on the below details:

Paul Aggett | CEO, paul.aggett@vestigium-services.com, 07990 570 203.

Andy Davies | Business Development, andy.davies@vestigium-services.com, 07565 030 415.

Creating a Financial Budget

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 12:19:00 GMT

The roadmap out of lockdown has been presented and things are looking brighter for the future ahead. The Coronavirus pandemic taught us that life can change quickly and these changes have impacted the lives of everyone across the globe and will continue to do so during the slow process of lifting government restrictions. As life begins to get back to a sense of normality, your expenditures will inevitably change as offices, businesses and hospitality destinations open and restart trading. It’s now a good time to evaluate your finances to ensure you’re ready for the transition back into life outside of lockdown and social restrictions. Creating a financial budget is a great way to keep abreast of your finances and stave off debt and overspending as bars, restaurants and In this blog, we explore how to create a financial budget and set financial goals that are achievable for you.

How to Create a Financial Budget

1. Understand Your Finances

In order to set goals, you need to create and understand your financial budget so you are aware of how and where you are spending your money and how much you can afford to invest or save.

Compile your finances by gathering information from your accounts and income. The goal is to build a picture of your monthly averages for your income and expenditures. You can look to gather information such as:

Bank statements
Investment accounts
Recent utility bills
Credit card bills
Mortgage
Auto loan statements
Insurance statements
Receipts for cash payments

2. Calculate your average monthly income

It’s important to understand how much income you receive each month as an average taken over 12 months, particularly if you have a business, zero-hours contract or a freelance job where your income can fluctuate from month to month.

If you have a seasonal career, it may be wise to use the income from your lowest-earning month, rather than taking an overall average.

Remember to include any additional sources of income, such as child support or shares and investment payouts to create a single, total figure of all your monthly income.

2. Compile a list of monthly expenses

Use the information gathered to compile a list of expenses over the last three months. Expenses are more than just bills, so remember to set a budget for aspects such as entertainment, personal care and gifts for birthdays and seasonal celebrations alongside obvious outgoings such as mortgage or rent payments and travel expenses.

Review your last two or three months of credit card or bank transactions to make a rough estimate of how much budget you need for the financial category on an average month, which could include:

Mortgage Payments or rent
Insurance
Groceries
Utilities
Entertainment (gym passes, Netflix)
Social Events
Personal Care
Childcare
Transportation costs / car payments, fuel & repair
Student Loans
Savings
Gifts

It’s important to include a contingency for unexpected payments and if in doubt, always round up payments rather than down, to ensure your budget isn’t too tight.

4. Compare your monthly income to your monthly expenses

By comparing your two monthly totals, you can easily see your total monthly expenses and how they compare to your income. Ideally, your income should be higher than your monthly expenses.

Keep a track of your expenses every month, this will help you identify any problematic habits and unnecessary spending to help you reach your financial goals.

How to Set Financial Goals

Now that you have your financial budget, you can look at setting yourself realistic and attainable goals for your finances, based on the outcome of the budgeting process. Financial goals and the success of achieving those goals is underpinned by your understanding of your financial budget and how you approach your finances.

If your expenses are less than your income

You’re already off to a great start, these funds can be used to put into savings, a private pension, investments and ISAs to help you save for a rainy day, an investment property or a trip of a lifetime.

If you have any debts, use this income to pay off any outstanding debts such as overdrafts, loans and credit cards. Focus on paying off the accounts with the highest interest rates to make your money work for you.

If your expenses are more than your income

Use the financial budget to take a look at areas where you might be overspending, and make necessary changes to get your finances back on track. Be realistic, make small changes to your habits to help encourage saving money, and set yourself short term goals to stay motivated in changing your finances. Whenever you spend money, ask - do I really need this? Look to your variable expenses for ways to reduce spending, such as sharing subscription services with friends and family and eating out less. You can also look to find new ways to generate income to balance your budget.

Don’t be daunted, reduce your fixed variable spending where possible and aim for a balance between your income and expenses as a first step.

Ask questions - "am I entitled to government support?"

You may be entitled to additional financial help. There are various ways the government and the local councils offer financial support, especially in helping citizens recover from the financial impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but the onus is on the claimant to ensure that they have access to any income support or financial aid available.

The best way to check if you are entitled to any extra income through these initiatives is to check if you’re entitled to any income support, visit https://www.gov.uk/income-support. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know, so it’s always worth checking if you’re entitled to any government assistance.

How to Find Lost Money For Free

With changing circumstances and jobs, customers can sometimes lose track of assets, pensions and accounts. In a new study conducted by Gretal, research found that

“19.6m adults in the UK have become disconnected with their assets in financial services products, leaving a collective value of more than £50bn across dormant or unclaimed funds.”

This is a staggering figure and equates to 22% of the adult population of the UK, so there’s never a better time to discover if you have any lost funds or unclaimed accounts with monies owed to you.

If you think you may have misplaced an account, left shares dormant or even forgotten about a pension, Vestigium can help you find and reclaim your lost funds. Similarly, Vestigium can help uncover financial services products that your parents, grandparents, or other relatives may have held that you are unaware of but entitled to.

Register your details for free and we will compare your information with the details of our caring clients' lost customers. Learn more about Vestigium Services and register your details

Preparing for the new tax year checklist

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 08:57:00 GMT

There are many ways you can make the most out of your money by taking advantage of allowances, tax reliefs and ISAs before the end of the tax year. In this blog, we explore some of the options available to you, when looking at how to financially prepare for the new tax year, starting 6th April 2021.

Top up your ISA

Interest rates may be low across the board, but you can save up to £20,000 in an individual savings account, tax-free, annually. Some providers may lock your money away and provide fixed rates, while instant access ISAs allow flexible and easy access to your savings. Weigh up your options, shop around and find a financial service product that works for you.

Remember, you can only pay into one account each year and you cannot roll over your £20,000 annual savings allowance. Martin Lewis provides digestible information on individual savings ISAs on his Money Saving Expert website.

Use your Inheritance Tax gift allowance

While regular gifts for Christmas and birthdays are exempt from inheritance tax, larger gifts will be included in your inheritance valuations, but there are some exceptions each tax year that you should be aware of, to make the most of your gifts.

A gift is deemed on the Government website as

“anything that has a value, such as money, property, possessions. A loss in value when something’s transferred, for example, if you sell your house to your child for less than it’s worth, the difference in value counts as a gift.”

You can find out more about gifts on the Government website. Your annual Tax Gift Allowance exemption allows you to give away £3,000 of gifts each tax year which is not included in the valuation of your estate. This exemption can be carried forward, but only for one year.

As for small gifts, you can give as many gifts of up to £250 as you like, provided you have not used another exemption on the same person.

As stated on the government website: each tax year, you can also give away:

wedding or civil ceremony gifts of up to £1,000 per person (£2,500 for a grandchild or great-grandchild, £5,000 for a child)
normal gifts out of your income, for example, Christmas or birthday presents - you must be able to maintain your standard of living after making the gift
payments to help with another person’s living costs, such as an elderly relative or a child under 18
gifts to charities and political parties

You can use more than one of these exemptions on the same person - for example, you could give your grandchild gifts for her birthday and wedding in the same tax year.

For more information on inheritance tax gift allowance, visit the Government website.

Open a Junior ISA for your children

Junior ISAs are individual savings accounts, opened up on behalf of your child and can be opened by parents or guardians responsible for a child. You can save up to £9,000 a year, tax-free in individual savings accounts for children.

It’s important to remember that while you are able to manage the account, the money invested belongs to your child. They will automatically gain control of the account when they are 16 but will be unable to withdraw any funds until they turn 18 and legally become an adult.

Find out more about opening Junior Savings accounts by visiting the Government website.

Each year, you can save a maximum amount of £40,000 towards your pension allowance, with the benefit of tax relief. This allowance applies across all of your pension schemes and includes any employer contributions or contributions from a third party.

Depending on your income, your annual allowance may be lower than £40,000. Tilney provides advice on how to understand your tapered pension allowance and the allowance changes following the 2020 budget announcement.

Give to charity

Donations to charity are tax-free and can reduce your income tax bill. Aside from the financial benefits, being charitable during hard times is looked on favourably by prospective clients, consumers and fellow peers in the industry. Choose charities that are close to your heart so you can give back to the community in a way that changes the lives of others for the better.

Visit the Government website to learn more about charitable tax relief.

Working through each of these aspects and utilising your allowances should help you get ready for the new tax year. Whether you’re a business owner or individual, it is always beneficial to use up all of your allowances before the end of the tax year to ensure you’re making your money work for you and you have your full allowances available for the new financial year.