ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Is the state holding onto money that belongs to you? The New York State Comptroller’s Office is currently managing over $400 million in unclaimed funds owed to people in the Finger Lakes region alone.
Unclaimed property is cash that has been lost or forgotten about over time including old bank accounts, uncashed insurance checks, stock certificates and even unused gift cards. “One of the areas of unclaimed funds where we’ve seen an uptick in terms of what’s coming into us has been unused gift cards to the tune last year about $28 million,” explains NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
The Comptroller’s Office holds a vast amount of unclaimed money, with forfeitures from banks accounting for nearly 40% of its total fund and uncashed checks from insurance companies just under 20%.
Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC): “What steps does your office take to find me, versus me having to find you?”
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “If we feel confident that we have the right information, complete information…starting in 2025 for new accounts $250 or less, we sent the check directly to people. I must tell you Jenn, because it was new, a lot of folks called and said is this real or is this a scam and we said it was real.”
If the amount you’re owed is more than $250, you have to start the claims process on the Comptroller’s website.
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “Everybody is talking about affordability, there’s no reason for us to hold on to this money. We want to return as much of it as we can, we’re up to about $2 million dollars a day that we’re returning but obviously, more money keeps coming in as well. So, we want to get as much of it back into the hands of its rightful owners.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Are you thinking you would increase that $250 threshold?”
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “Yes, yes. Stay tuned, we’ll have more information on that soon.”
Jennifer Lewke: “I think a lot of people think, well listen, even if I forgot to update my address somewhere, you’re the state of New York. You know where to find me if I owe you taxes so, you should know where to find me if you owe me money.”
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “It’s interesting you say that because one of the issues is we’re not the tax department so actually, we do not have access to tax information, tax information is confidential. One of the questions that has come up is can we compel the tax department to share that information with us, there are confidentially and privacy issues there, I think some other states have a different approach on that and I think some of the legislators have been suggesting that as another way to do it. So, yea… the tax department may know where you are, but the state controller does not so we do the best we can with the information that we have.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Do you need legislative approval to make changes like increasing the amount in which you send automatic checks or cross-reference databases with the tax department? Would you need legislative approval for that or is that something you can do on your own?”
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “The tax department, we would because again, it’s protected, private information but great question because in fact, we’re able to do the new program up to $250 because of legislative authorization and part of that authorization is that it gave us flexibility to expand the program if we deemed it appropriate and reliable.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Have you made the process of claiming in a loved-one’s name any easier, I know sometimes people find their parents or grandparents on there but then they struggle to get the right documentation they need to actually get the money.”
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “We have updated the system from a technology perspective, just in recent months so it made it a lot easier to upload documents rather than get stuck with the paper shuffle. So, in terms of what we need, it’s still very important and thorough but in terms of getting it to us, it’s a lot easier.”
Gift cards become unclaimed property after five years and must be registered with the retailer if possible. Most major retailers have a mechanism to do that.
To see if there is unclaimed money in your name, click here.
There is $400 million in unclaimed funds in the Finger Lakes region alone, is some of it yours? WHEC.com.
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