Posted on 07/18/2013 8:49:19 AM PDT by lafroste
Hello all. I have an interesting problem. Apparently my mother started a savings account for my son when he was born. The last statement date is 6/30/98. The bank she used no longer exists. My mother passed 8 years ago. Anyone have any ideas of where that money went or how I can retrieve it?
It’s been turned over to the state, they’re going to keep it.
If the bank shut down then the remaining funds may be held by the state.
Contact the Secretary of State or the banking regulator in your state.
If the bank went out of business, the accounts were likely transferred to a nearby bank.
I think there is a number you can call with the state that has unclaimed funds that they hold for a certain period of time.
Call your state Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Consumer Affairs for a place to start looking.
Each state has an unclaimed property department, where you can make this type of claim. You’ll need proper documentation, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. Good luck!
http://www.ehow.com/how_5523399_old-bank-accounts.html
Contact your state treasurer’s office or your state’s secrtary and ask for the unclaimed property division. Then inquire about any of her unclaimed accounts or assets that the state may have taken custody of by default.
Try the unclaimed money site at the US Treasury site above.
Is there a bank still located at the address on the last statement? If so, that's probably the bank which bought out the old one. Do a search online for the HQ of the old bank or find articles that will have info on the new owners.
Most states passed laws that money in inactive accounts goes to the state, but can be recovered by an account holder if they make an inquiry to the state about it. It doesn’t matter if the bank still exists or not.
I have done this myself, to an old account I abandoned in Texas with perhaps $50 in it. Texas has a website to recover such money, and promptly returned it.
Here in MA, anything like that is tranferred to what’s called Abandoned Property and stays there until somebody claims it. I can go to a website and file a claim. Your state may have something similar.
Wow, in five minutes I have excellent starting points. You guys are great!
In most states, unclaimed money becomes state property if there has been no activity in an account (deposits or withdrawals) after a certain number of years. Usually the state “advertises” the unclaimed property in a newspaper (nowadays probably on a website) then transfers the money to the general fund. With 15 years gone by, the odds of you recovering the money are zero.
The state doesn’t keep the money. They hold it in escrow. The is usually a web site that you can go to and when your relationship is proven, then the state will remit the money to you.
Just in case your mom’s account was somewhere other than North Carolina:
http://www.freeadvice.com/resources/unclaimed_property.htm
Otherwise, if you know the bank's name from the statement, you can look up where their assets went.
Heh, heh. Assets...
” It’s very possible the bank was merged with another or acquired. The accounts would have been transfered to the successor banks.”
If you can find that out, and there’s a local branch,,,, drop in and speak to the branch manager. They’ve always been friendly and helpful to me. Easy way to get started along the right path.
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