Unclaimed Property Blog

Out of all the sources for unclaimed money, abandoned bank accounts have to be the most boggling. How can anyone abandon a bank account? That’s the question most people want the answer to the moment they hear that there are millions if not billions of dollars in unclaimed money from that very source. Regardless of how or why it happens, it certainly does happen and it’s a frequent enough occurrence that most state Treasurers want to put a stop to it. If you suspect that you may have abandoned a bank account somewhere down the line, it’s time for you to finally find out.

Banks are the most common and frequently utilized financial institution in a person’s life. It is an unfortunate fact that a majority of the unclaimed funds are because of the abandoned bank accounts and some of these are never claimed back. If you are looking to claim back your lost money which is lying in some bank, the best place to start will be the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s web site at www.fdic.gov. Every type of bank can be found under the “bank Find” tab. The unclaimed money can be requested within a period of one and a half years, and after, the funds are handed over to FDIC.

Inactive bank accounts are one of the major contributors to the unclaimed cash with which U.S. state treasury is overflowing. States neither can use this huge unclaimed cash nor can dispose it off. States can only wait for the rightful owners of the unclaimed cash to come forward, stake claim and take away what is theirs.

Bank accounts and banking activities are contributing to the rising mound of unclaimed property. Savings accounts that are not properly closed or left inactive are turning out to be the major cause of concern. Banks in the U.S. are holding many accounts that are dormant. The number of checks that are not redeemed and forgotten are moreso a concern for the banks.