Need Money? Funds Are Waiting to Be Claimed

Have an old bank account or an old certificate of deposit that you may have forgotten about? Well, the state of California may have your money and is waiting for you to claim it. The state is currently holding more than $5.7 billion in unclaimed property belonging to approximately 11.6 million individuals, businesses and organizations, according to the state controller’s office.
 
Under the state’s unclaimed property law, companies, banks and insurance companies are required annually to report and deliver property to the controller’s office after there has been no customer contact for three years. The unclaimed property law was enacted to prevent businesses from taking unclaimed property as their business income.
 
The most common reasons monies are turned over to the state, according to the controller’s office, are that the account owners forget that the account exists, they moved and did not leave a forwarding address or the forwarding order expired. In some cases, the owner died and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.
 
A search of the controller’s website shows several Poway businesses and public entities—such as , , and —listed with money owed to them.

Sharon Raffner, director of communications for Poway Unified, said that the district is aware of the state’s unclaimed property program.

“At the end of each year [the finance department] goes on the website to do what’s necessary to claim the money,” she said.

Likewise, Luanne Hulsizer, president and CEO of the Poway Chamber of Commerce, is aware of the program, but was surprised that the chamber is on the list. The chamber conducts an audit every year to make sure that all accounts have been settled, she said. The chamber is listed with $14.55 owed to it from and $500 from .

“This the first time I am aware of it,” Hulsizer said. With Sempra Energy, she thinks that it might have been an overpayment. As for Walmart, “We have not had any notices on that,” she said.

According to the notice on the controller’s website, the last date of contact Walmart had with the chamber on this issue was in 1998, which is before Hulsizer came on board. She speculates that it might have been a sponsorship deal, something that Walmart has done with the chamber in the past.

Since becoming state controller, has enacted several reforms intended to reunite people with their money. His reforms have resulted in more money being returned to owners than in previous years. In the two years before Chiang took office, the state returned more than $620 million, and in the two years since he took office the state returned more than $830 million.
 
“In the first year of implanting those reforms, he sent out twice as many notifications as the last 10 years of the program combined,” said Jacob Roper, a spokesman for the controller. “As notification has improved, so has the rate of property return.”
 
Chiang’s office has sent out more than 2.5 million notices to property owners compared to the 1.1 million the state has sent out in the previous 10 years. In addition to the notices, the controller’s office has also set up a website designed to educate individuals on unclaimed property.
 
“We send public notices, we send numerous press releases, we hold public-awareness events, and even attend financial literacy seminars to encourage property owners to claim their property,” Roper said.
 
San Diego County has a similar program, but instead of holding unclaimed money that businesses turn over, the county holds unclaimed property tax refunds, estates of the deceased and, by Patch, unclaimed vendor checks. The county is currently holding more than 4,700 unclaimed checks totaling almost $400,000.
 
County Treasurer-Tax Collector said that his office makes every effort to return the money, including having investigators go out and make physical contact with people to find out if they are still living at their last known address. In addition, his office also uses mail, phone books and other means to track down people.
 
Under state law, the funds cannot be turned over to the county’s general fund until at least four years have passed since the refunds were issued for overpaid property taxes. The escheatment process, the process where unclaimed properties are transferred to the general fund, for an estate is a bit different. For estates with heirs, the funds are held for one year before they are sent to the state, and if they are still unclaimed after five years, the funds become the property of the state. For estates without heirs, the funds are held for three years before they can be escheated to the county’s general fund.
 
Unlike the county, the state does not have permanent escheatment, meaning you can collect your money at any time. The county, however, must publish a newspaper notice and wait a period of 45 to 60 days before it can permanently transfer the unclaimed money to the general fund.
 
McAllister said that the reason why his office works so hard to locate the individual is that the money is not the government’s money, but rather it belongs to the taxpayer. But there is only so much his office can do, which is why his office conducts a news conference each year.
 
“We will make one last shot. We will make a public announcement. Come one, come all, if your name is there,” McAllister told the San Diego Union-Tribune in December 2009.
 
To find out if you have money owed to you, you can visit the state or the county websites here:

• County of San Diego Treasurer-Tax Collector
• California State Controller’s Office: Unclaimed Property

In addition, you can find out if have unclaimed properties in other states by visiting unclaimed.org.  The site will connect you to other states’ unclaimed property page.