California’s pot of unclaimed property tops $10 billion. Check if the state has your money

This week marked National Unclaimed Property Day, and the California State Controller’s Office would like to remind you that the state has more than $10.2 billion in property waiting to be retrieved by its rightful owners.

The State Controller’s Office is safeguarding billions in lost or forgotten properties, including bank accounts, stocks, bonds, never-cashed checks, insurance benefits, wages and safe deposit box contents.

Last fiscal year, the state reunited people with $258 million in unclaimed property, an average of more than $700,000 per day.

But the balance is growing. In 2019, the Controller’s Office estimated it had $9.3 billion in unclaimed property, a sum that has since swelled by hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We watch over all sorts of properties you might not know exist, from a rebate that was returned to sender after a move, to bonds your grandmother bought in your name. It is so worthwhile to take a few minutes to search and discover whether you have funds coming your way,” Controller Betty Yee said in a statement. “For smaller claims with clear proof of ownership, you can file online and often have a check within weeks.”

State law requires that banks, insurance companies, corporations and other entities submit customer property to the State Controller’s Office when there has been no activity for a certain period of time, typically three years.

The state recommends that people search for their property “ by their name, a maiden name, or the name of a business or nonprofit organization with which they are affiliated,” according to a statement from Yee’s office.

You can search for yourself or for others by visiting claimit.ca.gov. More information is available by contacting the Unclaimed Property Division at (800) 992-4647.