Firstly, it is up to your bank or former bank (or insurer, or employee savings manager) to try to notify you of this forgotten money. Then, after a few years, you can try your luck on Ciclade.fr. But after 30 years, the State pockets the money. So how much ?
“Belt and suspenders”, to use a hackneyed expression from the financial world: if you forget an old savings account, an old account, an employee savings plan or if you forget to claim the last funds of an ancestor deceased, the Eckert law is supposed to offer you a double or even triple catch-up session to prevent you from seeing your money become permanently inaccessible.
In short, remember that the bank or insurer must first try to contact you then, after 10 years of inactivity (3 years following a death) the unclaimed sums go to the Caisse des Dépôts, which offers to collect them via Cicalde.fr. At the end of this catch-up chain, after 30 years of observed inactivity, therefore 30 years without anyone coming forward… then the State picks up the stake!
“Once returned to the State, it is no longer possible to request the return of the assets,” recalls the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) on its Ciclade website. This total period of 30 years applies to all forgotten and unclaimed accounts or investments: 30 years after the death of the holder, or 30 years since the last transaction on the account (excluding payment of annual interest), in accordance with the “Eckert” law – named after Christian Eckert, former Secretary of State for the Budget – from June 13, 2014 and in force since July 2016.
More than 400 million euros donated to the State… for billions of euros forgotten
A hidden windfall? A jackpot for the State? Not really, if we look at the money already paid to the State since the implementation of the Ciclade system in application of the Eckert law. More than 400 million euros ended up in the state coffers, and can no longer be claimed by the rights holders. This is to date the amount of aid granted in 2024 to farmers to try to calm their anger.
But these 400 million euros are a big drop in the bucket at this stage compared to the 8.4 billion euros transferred to the Caisse des Dépôts by banks, insurers and employee savings managers since 2017. And this remains less than the 838.7 million euros returned to rights holders in 7 years of Ciclade’s existence. As long as you don’t miss your last catch-up session…
| Where does forgotten money go? | How much ? |
|---|---|
| Received by the Caisse des Dépôts (after 10 years, most often, with the bank or insurer) | 8.4 billion euros |
| Returned to individuals who come forward via Ciclade.fr | 838.7 million euros |
| Money currently “forgotten” available at the Caisse des Dépôts | 7 billion euros |
| Permanently returned to the State (if the total period of inactivity of accounts or contracts exceeds 30 years) | More than 400 million euros |
Source: Caisse des Dépôts. Figures at the end of 2023, over the period 2017-2023since the Ciclade portal was set up in 2017 following the Eckert law in force since July 2016.
“The thirty-year prescription already existed in Roman law”
And before Ciclade? Where did the forgotten money go?
Short version: banks and insurers did what they wanted. Long version: before the Eckert law, an old law from 1977 prevailed. Accounts without movements could be automatically closed after 10 years and transferred to the Caisse des Dépôts. But without this being an obligation. On the other hand, the principle of funds returned to the State after 30 years already existed in the law: this money was acquired by the State “when these deposits or assets have not been the subject of the rights holders of no operation or claim for 30 years.
If the Eckert and Ciclade law brought order to the recovery of assets before the 30-year deadline, this thirty-year-old prescription has theoretically applied for centuries ! “The thirty-year prescription already existed in Roman law”, we read in a report from the Court of Auditors from 2013, therefore written before the Eckert law: this report insisted on the “difficulties in implementing the provisions relating to the thirty-year limitation period”evoking in particular banks considering that the payment of annual interest as a movement… Which made it possible to keep these forgotten booklets for an eternity.