Martin Lewis' MSE reveals how to track down lost cash with 'little effort' as woman reclaims £13,500 pension pot | The Sun

MARTIN Lewis' MSE has revealed how to track down lost cash with "little effort" after a woman reclaimed £13,500.

The consumer champion's team of experts are urging Brits to track down their lost pensions, which can be worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Writing in the MoneySavingExpert newsletter this week the team said: "There can't be many more (potentially) profitable ways to spend the extra hour this Sunday when the clocks go back than checking if you've got any lost pensions.

"It's been designated National Pension Tracing Day for that reason, with 2.8million pensions thought to have gone astray, usually worth £10,000s and sometimes even £100,000s."

The weekly email also went on to explain how the biggest payouts for workers tend to be from old private or company pensions and investments.

A Martin Lewis fan called Jackie even managed to track down a whopping £13,581 cash boost with "a little effort".

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She said: "Thank you for your advice on tracing previous work pensions.

"I worked for Royal Mail between 1988 and 1991 and only contributed £596 in that time.

"I now have a transfer balance of £13,581. A big thank you to Martin & the team."

Millions of people are now enrolled in a pension automatically through their work.

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Each time you start a new job you start a new pension, which can leave many Brits with several pots of cash that they can easily forget about.

Even before auto-enrolment if you were paying into a pension and moved jobs it could easily be forgotten.

Small amounts of just a couple of hundred pounds can still add up over time.

That's because the money is invested and grows over time.

According to Standard Life, an estimated £26.6billion sits in lost pots.

The Government estimates there will be a staggering 50million dormant and lost pensions by 2050.

Below we reveal how to track down a lost pension claim cash.

How to track down your lost pension pot

First gather all the pensions documents you have – this could be paperwork or online documents or emails.

When you are first signed up to a pension you should get sent information about it.

Pension providers send annual statements usually by post, and that's why it's worth keeping your address up to date.

If you see any pension providers you don’t recognise, you can get in touch with them directly

Ask if they have more information about your pension and its value and they should be able to help.

If you don't know who you have a pension with, it's worth contacting old employers instead.

If they’re still in business, contact them to see if they can help you find out which pension provider administered your workplace scheme.

If you can't get in touch with your old workplace, or your hunting for a private pension then it's worth using the government's free Pension Tracing Service.

This lets you search a database of hundreds of thousands of pension scheme contact details to find your provider.

You can search online by entering the name of your employer or old pension provider.

The service will tell you who managed your old company's scheme and you will then need to contact them.

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Meanwhile, an expert has revealed the five most common questions she's asked about pensions.

Plus, here's a secret to boosting your retirement fund by up to £128,000.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.

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