With just over a week to go before the deadline, around €27 million (£21.26 million) of free shares in First Active remain unclaimed by former members of First National Building Society. Some 20,000 former society members have not claimed their free shares in First Active and time is running out.

Former members of the society became eligible to claim free shares in First Active following the demutualisation of First National Building Society in September 1998.

The deadline for sending in completed claim forms is 5 p.m. on October 6th. There are approximately 9,000,000 shares unclaimed, worth in the region of €1,350 per allocation of 450 shares.

There are two types of members who may be eligible - saving members and borrowing members. Each eligible member was mailed in September 1998 regarding the availability of their allocations of free shares.

There are more than 140 million shares currently in the market, held by around 160,000 shareholders. Eligibility was based on customers matching the criteria below:

Were you a savings member eligible to receive free shares on May 18th, 1998?

You are entitled to an allocation of free shares as a qualifying saver if you can answer yes to the following three questions:

1. Did you have one or more investment accounts with First National Building Society as sole or first-named holder continuously throughout the period from April 8th, 1996 to May 18th, 1998?

2. On July 1st, 1997, did you have at least £100 in total in one or more investment accounts with First National Building Society held as sole or first-named holder and continue to hold at least £100 from July 1st, 1997 to May 18th, 1998?

3. Were you resident in the permitted territories - Ireland, Britain, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Australia - on May 18th, 1998?

Were you a borrowing member on May 18th, 1998, eligible to receive free shares?

You are entitled to an allocation of free shares as a qualifying borrower if you can answer yes to the following three questions.

1. On April 8th, 1996, did you have one or more housing loans with First National Building Society?

2. Did you have one or more housing loans with First National Building Society as sole or first-named borrower where the total amount owed was at least £500 on December 31st, 1997, and was at least £500 on May 18th, 1998?

3. Were you resident in the permitted territories, as listed above, on May 18th, 1998?

Each qualifying member is entitled to one allocation of free shares irrespective of the number of accounts or loans held, but a member who qualifies as both a borrowing and saving member is entitled to two allocations.

The highest number of former members of First National Building Society who are eligible for free shares but have not claimed, approximately 6,000, are based in Co Dublin.

Share certificates for those who have submitted a valid claim form will be issued towards the end of next month.

If an individual believes they are eligible and have not yet claimed their allocation of free shares, they can contact First Active on the LoCall helpline 1890 756 789.