State Releases Unclaimed Monies List Totaling $9.3 Billion
Sacramento, CA – One of the state’s top officials calls her office’s latest public list of unclaimed dollars and goods a way to trick-or-treat for perhaps some unexpected goodies.
According to Controller Betty Yee, her office’s latest listings have a total of approximately $9.3 billion in bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed checks, insurance benefits, wages, and safe deposit box contents; all belonging to about 48 million people.
Under California’s Unclaimed Property Law, banks, insurance companies, corporations, and certain other entities must report — and submit — their customers’ property to the State Controller’s Office when there has been no activity for some time; generally three years.
No Deadline For Owners To Submit Claims
Yee’s office safeguards these lost or forgotten properties as long as it takes to reunite it with the rightful owners. Since there is no claiming deadline, some of the entries on her office’s gargantuan list are fresh but others have been in the state’s keeping for literally, decades.
She reports that the files, which are viewable online, update every Thursday, adding that last month, about 32,000 people claimed about $34 million in properties. It is free to check the data. The easiest way is to click here and then on the “Search for Unclaimed Property” link, which provides some basic search fields to fill out.
From the main “Unclaimed Property” landing page, users can access a number of other helpful links, such as those that allow users to download the lists; get answers to frequently asked questions; review claim filing instructions and forms; also search a claim’s status.
Ways, Tools To Search Online
For those interested in perusing the complete online list, it is admittedly somewhat unwieldy to navigate. However, Yee’s office also breaks down the files into several lists under four categories: properties reported at $.00 to $9.99; between $10 and $99.99; properties from $100 to $499.99; and $500 and up.
For the purposes of providing some local examples, a quick check of the first of three sheets listing “$500 and over” property listings shows over 70 properties belonging to owners with Arnold addresses — and well over 200 with Sonora addresses.
Feeling lucky? To search whether or not the state might be holding a fun or super-sized treat in the form of an unclaimed property, click here.
