Unclaimed money or an inactive account?
If it’s been several years since you checked your balance, transacted on your NBS account or you haven’t contacted us during this time, the funds in your account may become subject to the Unclaimed Money Act 1971.
If you have an account with NBS that’s been inactive for over five years, we’ll make every effort to contact you. However, if we’re unable to get in touch, we’re legally required to transfer any unclaimed funds to Inland Revenue (IRD).
If you've logged into NBS Internet Banking or the NBS Mobile Banking app to check other accounts, none of the funds in your accounts will be treated as unclaimed money.
Think you're impacted?
Unclaimed money for NBS accounts
If you receive a message from us about unclaimed money or inactive accounts or you think you could be impacted, you'll need to reactivate your account as your funds may be transferred to Inland Revenue (in accordance with the Unclaimed Money Act 1971).
Reactivating your account
There are three ways you can reactivate your account.
Access your account
- Simply check your account balance or transfer funds to or from an account using NBS Internet Banking or the NBS Mobile banking app.
Use your NBS Debit Mastercard
- Make a purchase with your NBS Debit Mastercard linked to your account.
Get in touch
- You can contact us at info@nbs.co.nz or call us on 0800 101 700 or visit your local branch.
What happens if we don't hear from you?
If you haven’t checked your balance or transacted on your account or term investment for five years or more, or you haven't contacted us during this time, we will close your accounts and:
- donate account balances of $100 or less to a local charity
- transfer account balances over $100 to Inland Revenue (IRD) as unclaimed money
Before we transfer money to Inland Revenue, we’ll notify you by letter, email, SMS or phone (depending on the contact information we have for you on file) to tell you that your account will be closed if you don’t take steps to reactivate it.
You can still claim these funds directly from IRD through their Unclaimed Money service.
For account balances of $100 or less that are donated to charity, you'll need to contact us if you'd like your money back.
Unclaimed money for remediation payments
If you've received a letter or email about a remediation payment due to you and you haven't claimed this remediation, here’s how to claim your money:
- Remediation payments of $100 or less have been donated to a charity. You can contact us if you'd like to receive this remediation payment.
- Remediation payments over $100 were transferred to the IRD as per the Unclaimed Monies Act 1971 in August 2025. You can still claim these funds directly from IRD through their Unclaimed Money service.