More than 25,000 Australians made claims worth $158.4 million in the 2014/15 financial year for unclaimed money held in a government holding account.Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer said there were still around 1.3 million records of unclaimed money worth $1.2 billion from bank accounts, life insurance policies, share portfolios and other investments. More than half is in bank accounts.Under the unclaimed money provisions of the Banking Act, an account held by an authorised-deposit taking institution will be deemed to consist of unclaimed money if in the previous seven years there have been no transactions in the account other than interest or charges, and the account holder has not checked the account balance online or by phone.Last year the Government amended the Banking Act to extend the period before accounts could be deemed to consist of unclaimed money from three to seven years. The move to seven years was in response to a large number of "effectively active" accounts being transferred to the government holding account under the three-year rule.The unclaimed money provisions are designed to preserve the value of money that might otherwise be lost or eroded by fees. Details of unclaimed money transferred to the government are searchable on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's MoneySmart website and can be reclaimed at any time.