SACRAMENTO
- State Controller John Chiang today announced his new online
claiming feature for unclaimed property has already resulted in nearly
$1.1 million in payments with an average wait time of 10 days.
The new
eClaim
innovation, launched on January 28, allows unclaimed property owners to
claim single-owner accounts worth up to $500 without the "paper and
snail-mail" process used since the unclaimed property program was
established
in 1959.
"In
less than one month, nearly 15,000 unclaimed property owners were able
to claim online and quickly receive more than one million dollars owed
to them without
having to mail in forms and wait," said Chiang. "I am pleased that this
technological advancement allows unclaimed property owners a fast and
easy way to recover their lost or forgotten accounts."
Of
the 24.9 million unclaimed property accounts being safeguarded by the
Controller's Office, 18 million are eligible to be claimed through
eClaim, and property
owners can expect to receive payments within 14 days. Depending on
feedback and usage, future editions of this tool may include a higher
qualifying dollar threshold.
For tips on how to use eClaim, watch this
tutorial or call the Controller's Unclaimed Property Division at (800) 992-4647.
Since
January 2007, the Controller has reunited owners with $2.7 billion in
cash that had been lost or forgotten – more than any previous
Controller. As of
June 2013, the Controller also returned 181 million shares of
securities to owners, which is more than 30 times the amount returned to
owners during the previous decade.press release