How to Find Out When You Opened a Bank Account

There is no public database that shows the date you opened every bank account in your name.

If you need an opening date for a form, tracing exercise or financial history, the best route is usually to check your own records first and then ask the bank. If normal customer service cannot locate the information, a subject access request can be useful where the bank still holds the relevant personal data.

Try these routes in order:

1. check the banking app or online profile;
2. search your oldest statements and welcome correspondence;
3. check email for account-opening messages;
4. ask the bank for the account opening date, not just how long you have been a customer;
5. if necessary, make a subject access request for records showing when the account was created; and
6. use a credit report only as a supporting clue where the account is actually reported there.

A current account's "start date" on a credit report can be useful, but it is not a complete register of all bank and savings accounts.

Common reasons include:

• a bank-security question;
• a tracing or dormant-account claim;
• estate administration;
• financial or legal disclosure;
• checking how long you have held an account;
• investigating an account you barely remember; or
• completing a form that asks for approximate account history.

Before spending hours trying to recover an exact day, check whether the organisation really needs DD/MM/YYYY or whether a month or year is enough.

Some banks show account details such as:

• account number;
• sort code;
• product type;
• statements;
• interest information; and
• account documents.

The opening date is not always displayed, but it may appear in:

• profile/account details;
• an account information PDF;
• the earliest available statement; or
• archived documents.

If your app only shows recent statements, log into the full online-banking website as well. The document history can differ.

An early statement can narrow the opening date quickly.

Look for:

• a zero or opening balance;
• the first deposit;
• wording such as "account opened";
• a partial first statement period; or
• the first account fee or interest entry.

The earliest statement you can find is evidence that the account existed by that date, but it is not always proof of the exact opening date.

An account could have been opened days or weeks earlier.

Try searches for:

• the bank name;
• "welcome";
• "your new account";
• "account opened";
• "application successful";
• "sort code";
• "debit card";
• "PIN";
• "switch completed"; and
• the last four digits of the account number.

Also check:

• old letters;
• debit-card carriers;
• cheque books;
• paying-in books;
• switching paperwork; and
• tax or savings certificates.

If the account was opened as part of a current-account switch, the switch date can be close to the opening period but is not necessarily the same day the new account was created.

If the account is still open, the provider is usually the best source.

Use a precise question:

"Please confirm the date this specific account was opened."

That is different from:

"How long have I banked with you?"

You may have become a customer years before opening the particular account you are asking about.

Be ready to provide:

• account number or partial account details;
• previous names;
• previous addresses;
• approximate opening year;
• branch, if relevant; and
• identity verification.

If you have lost the account number as well, start with our guide on finding an old bank account number.

If ordinary support cannot locate the history, you can request personal information the bank holds about you.

The Information Commissioner's Office says people have a right to access and obtain a copy of their personal information. This is commonly called a subject access request, or SAR.

A SAR can be made verbally or in writing, and in most circumstances the organisation cannot charge a fee.

The normal response deadline is without undue delay and within one month, although the organisation can extend by up to two further months where a request is complex or there are multiple requests.

Ask specifically for records that show:

• the date the named account was opened;
• original account-opening records;
• the earliest account record still held;
• product-conversion dates, if relevant; and
• closure date if the account is no longer open.

Keep the request focused. A targeted request for one account can be easier to search than asking for every piece of personal data the bank has ever held.

Sometimes.

Credit accounts reported to Experian, Equifax or TransUnion can show a start or opening date.

That can include some:

• current accounts with overdraft facilities;
• credit cards;
• loans;
• mortgages; and
• other reported credit agreements.

But a credit report is not a complete bank-account registry.

Pure savings accounts normally do not appear simply because you hold money in them, and different providers report different products.

Use the credit report as a cross-check, not as definitive proof of every account you have ever opened.

Our guide on how to read your credit report explains where account history appears.

Start with the current successor institution.

Bank brands change, merge or move between banking groups. If you know the old provider, search its history to identify the organisation that now holds customer records.

If you have lost track of the provider altogether, the problem is no longer merely "what date did I open it?"

Use the free lost savings and bank-account tracing process.

Ask the bank anyway.

Closed does not mean every historical record is immediately erased.

How long records remain available depends on the provider's legal obligations, operational needs and retention policy.

Give the bank enough information to search:

• old account number if known;
• name used at the time;
• old addresses;
• approximate years;
• branch;
• account type; and
• closure period.

If the front-line team cannot search old records, ask how to submit a formal information request.

Do not over-engineer it.

If the purpose is simply to work out "roughly how old is this account?", the earliest reliable document may be enough.

For example:

• earliest statement: June 2014;
• first welcome email: May 2014;
• bank confirms account created: 22 May 2014.

Only the third gives the exact opening date, but all three establish the broad account age.

A current account can be converted without the underlying account being newly opened.

For example:

• a student account becomes a graduate account;
• a basic account is upgraded;
• a packaged account is downgraded;
• a savings product matures into another account.

The date the product changed may therefore be much later than the date the account relationship began.

If the date matters legally or for a formal application, ask the bank which date its record represents.

Browse all our savings guides.

• Information Commissioner's Office — A guide to subject access
• Information Commissioner's Office — Make a subject access request
• My Lost Account — About the service

Related: Find an Old Bank Account Number | Check Whether an Old Account Is Still Open | Trace Lost Savings Accounts.