California controller: That lost money could be yours
It could be you. Someone in Sacramento has an AT&T paycheck for $145 waiting to be claimed. A Rancho Cordova resident has a state pension savings account of $199. And since 2002, a Grass Valley resident has $62 from an overlooked health care claim.
Those are among more than 9,100 California residents and businesses who will be getting letters this week from the state controller's lost-money department. Officially known as the Unclaimed Property Program, it's the state's repository where banks, credit unions, utilities and others send money from accounts that haven't been touched in three years.
The letters are the last of 1.6 million that have gone out in the past two-plus years to those who likely weren't aware of, or had forgotten about the money. Since 2007, state Controller John Chiang's office has ramped up its issuance of letters, many of which are going to individuals, companies and municipalities for the first time.
"We're trying to right a horrible wrong," said Chiang. Under old laws, notices were not sent out unless the controller's office had an address for the account holder different from that listed with the state Franchise Tax Board.
That system "left a lot of people in the dark without their money," said Chiang, who's been on a mission to clear out the backlog of unclaimed accounts, some of which date back to 1989.
Between January 2007 and February this year, the controller's office said it had "reunited" a total of $1.2 billion with the rightful owners.
Currently, about $5.7 billion from more than 11.6 million accounts is waiting to be claimed, belonging to everyone from former Kings star Vlade Divac to state politicians to Hollywood celebrities.
The dormant accounts include utility refunds, long-lost bank accounts, stocks and mutual funds, insurance policy payouts, death benefits, uncashed checks and contents of safe deposit boxes.
And while some of the amounts waiting to be claimed are as tiny as $10 or less, the average cash amount returned in 2008-09 was $972, according to the state controller's office.
Getting the funds back in the hands of their rightful owners, is "just the right thing to do," said Chiang. "The government shouldn't have this money. It's their money."
To see if you've got unclaimed funds, go to: www.claimit.ca.gov or call (800) 992-4647.
