States Throughout the U.S. Are Resorting to Desperate Measures for Returning Unclaimed Property
The urgency to handle the rising unclaimed property amounts is increasing every day. Every state treasury in the country is reeling under the administrative burden of the unclaimed money pile, which is still growing unabated and is not being returned to the public as per the expectations of the state treasuries.
The unclaimed money pile is not only a nightmare for the state and the federal authorities but is also a burden for a lot of public and financial institutions like the banks, insurance companies and the utility companies. The states have been facing increasing problems in returning the unclaimed funds to the rightful owners.
Most of the states are facing these growing volumes of unclaimed money growth and are reporting huge additions to its unclaimed money vault every month. This ‘problem of plenty’ is much graver in the larger states like California, Texas, and New York, where the workforce diversity and migrations are extremely high. These states are reporting an ever increasing volume of unclaimed money pile; California is estimating an unclaimed money volume to the tune of $5.7 billion, while New York’s pile of unclaimed money has swelled up to $9.9 billion.
A recent press release reported that about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank customers in Wisconsin is waiting to be claimed. According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), almost $40 billion in unclaimed cash and property is sitting in state treasuries and other agencies, and has been lying unaccounted for a long period of time. In spite of all the measures taken up by the state, the unclaimed money figure is going up every year.
The federal agencies and higher officials of the State treasuries are working together to tackle with unclosed bank accounts, unreturned tax refund, unremitted pension funds and other types of personal assets that have no takers. As the statutory limit is reached for this money and property, it is transferred to the state treasuries where it is marked as unclaimed or abandoned.
In association with NAUPA, the law makers of all the states have initiated various outreach programs which are intended to increase the awareness about the unclaimed money and their claim process. In addition to the above, the governing bodies of these states are seriously considering options to utilize the unclaimed funds for state development programs.
