Unclaimed Property Blog

Seven years ago the power company paid Robert Jenkins his deposit. He lost the check. Since he is a man of principle, he pressed on – here is his story.

Robert Jenkins, now 71, had rented an apartment and moved out in 1998. Shortly afterwards, Duke Power company mailed him a $41.18 deposit refund check.

The check got misplaced by Jenkins’ former roommate, but was found seven years later.

Jenkins then contacted Duke Power before he attempted to cash the 7-year-old deposit refund. His bank returned the check stating the account was closed. His bank also charged him $15 for the returned check.

It appears that people would know where their money was, so how is it that each state has money unclaimed? Here are some of the ways that people “lose” their money.

This money comes from many sources, typically utility deposits, savings bonds, bank accounts, family properties, safe deposit box contents, employment checks, and insurance policies that have gone unclaimed and are now turned over to the state.

When a state has a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, it’s coffers can tenfold in dollar value. The reason behind this is that a very large portion of those who lose their home also lose important papers. Also some tend to forget the exact location of many of their assets, after all it was written down on the important papers.

New law has banks and other institutions giving money to the state as unclaimed property

Passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reporting law and other changes in corporate governance have caused a large increase in the amount of “unclaimed property� money being collected by all 50 states, state treasurers said.

That means a growing number of Americans could collect large piles of money, if they only knew where to look. A Baton Rouge man recently learned that the state of Louisiana owes him about $750,000 in stocks and dividends from an investment account he had lost track of years ago.

Steve Westlly the CA State Controller has been traveling through the state giving money away. He is the person possibly holding your share of California’s $4.8 billion worth of unclaimed property.

San Francisco residents were recently urged to check for unclaimed money as Controller Steve Westly continued a campaign urging residents to check whether the state is holding any of their money in the form of unclaimed property.

The state has $4.8 billion worth of bank balances and miscellaneous items whose owners could not be located after three years, according to the controller’s office.

It seems that everyone has different views on how to spend money. What do you do with money that has been dormant and unclaimed for many years? Recently the UK has made known how it wishes to handle its unclaimed assets.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said in his pre-budget report that banks and building societies had agreed that unclaimed assets held in accounts will be diverted to help improve youth services and financial education. It said banks could have an option to focus on their local community charities.

Dormant accounts will be defined as those untouched for 15 years.

There are many different rules and regulations concerning the use of gift cards. Will it expire is the most common question regarding gift cards. Another concern is if there is a service fee. Then that one lingering question — when the card has expired and was not used, who has ownership of the money?

Q: Can a business that has issued a gift certificate for a product or service put an expiration date on it after receiving payment in full?

A: Yes, businesses do have this right.

On Tuesday December 13th, CashUnclaimed.com Founder, Mr. Bill McIntosh, donated his unclaimed cash to ensure that the Whittier Women’s and Children’s Crisis Shelter have a happier holiday season. Mr. McIntosh discovered he had unclaimed money after a recent search on his newly updated website, www.cashunclaimed.com.

An estimated $25 billion of unclaimed money is sitting unbeknownst to the moneys’ owners, while many Americans could use financial assistance this Christmas. In the spirit of spreading joy and love for the holidays, CashUnclaimed contacted the owners of unclaimed property and requested a donation of the found money to this women and children’s shelter. Several of those contacted did make a donation to this worthy cause as it does provide a hotline, crisis shelter and protection, meals, clothing and much more to battered women and children.

A New Jersey woman has discovered that her grandparents had an IRA account that dates back to 1990 or even earlier. She has questions on this so she asked John W. Schoen, Senior Producer at MSNBC. Here is what was asked and his response:

Q: My grandmother handed me some IRA deposit receipts/certificates that belong to herself and my grandfather. My grandfather’s certificates are from Chemical Bank and are dated 1983-1987. My grandmother has one receipt dated 1990. I’ve called Chase Bank and all a representative could tell me was, “…maybe she could have rolled the monies over into another account…” because he did not see and IRA accounts in either name.

Ever wonder exactly what the State Controller does? You read about giving away money, financial status of the State and you hear his/her name, but do you know what their job is? Here is what is listed under the responsibilities of the Controllor’s office, taken from the website of California Controller, Steve Westly:

Controller Steve Westly is the Chief Financial Officer of California, the sixth largest economy in the world. He helps administer $300 billion in state pension funds and serves on 57 state boards and commissions. These are charged with duties ranging from protecting our coastline to helping build hospitals. The Controller is the state’s independent fiscal watchdog, providing sound fiscal control over more than $100 billion in receipts and disbursements of public funds a year, offering fiscal guidance to local governments and uncovering fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Yes it is true, Colorado has given their attempts to return unclaimed property and money to citizens a name; the Great Colorado Payback. Keeping in the fun of things, last Friday fans attending the big CU/Nebraska football game had a chance to claim their share of more than $300 million in unclaimed property currently held by the state.

The Great Colorado Payback program allows Coloradoans to claim lost or forgotten property such as checking accounts, savings accounts and safe deposit boxes abandoned for more than five years, which the state has taken for safekeeping.