Billions Still Held in New York’s Unclaimed Money Vault
The unclaimed money vault of New York continues to experience heavy influx of unclaimed money and is now considered to be one of the largest state treasuries in terms of unclaimed money. As of the last estimate, the state of New York is home to almost $10 billion of unclaimed funds.
A majority of this abandoned money comes from the following sources: 25 million inactive bank, business, and government accounts unclaimed by their owners and in the care of the state controller’s office. While the New York State treasury is taking all the right steps to spread the awareness about unclaimed funds, the volume of incoming unclaimed funds keeps the deficit growing.
The process of reclaim and search for unclaimed money has been simplified to a great extent in the last couple of years. State treasury has taken very dynamic and innovative steps and created far reaching programs to convey this message. The results of this aggressive awareness campaign can be seen in the increasing number of claim inquiries and the number of refunds that the state treasury has made.
The state has launched a very informative and user-friendly website to help the state resident claim their lost funds. In addition to these efforts, New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds (OUF) is also collaborating with the state treasury to return the unclaimed funds to its actual owners. In addition to the online programs and initiatives, public events and fairs are also organized regularly to help the citizens through walk-in assistance booths. The New York State Comptroller’s Web Site can be accessed at www.osc.state.ny.us.
New York, being one of the most cosmopolitan states in the country, is also prone to a lot of inter-state and foreign worker migrations. It is home to one of the largest Diasporas of foreign work force. This ethnically complex landscape has a great influence on the volume of unaccounted funds and properties. Apart from being a multi-cultural state and a hub for foreign workers, New York is also a great attraction for retirees. With number of retirees increasing every year, the volume of unclaimed money is also getting larger.
The state of New York publishes an “Abandoned Property Supplement” of the New York State Register, which contains a list of abandoned property. This supplement is published by New York State Department of State, 162 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12231. The Department of State runs this list in hopes to reach out to the citizens and increase the number of claimants.
As a result of its highly proactive unclaimed funds policies, New York has also been one of the most successful states in reuniting the owners with their lost money. The outreach program of the state, along with the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), a nonprofit organization affiliated with the National Association of State Treasurers, has simplified the process of reclaim and also been highly successful in creating unprecedented awareness about the unclaimed money pool lying with the state treasuries. So, if you have ever resided in New York, now is the time to search for your unclaimed funds.
