SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Have you gotten a letter recently telling you there’s unclaimed cash waiting for you if you just pay a fee?
Surprisingly, this isn’t a scam — but you can avoid the fee if you check and claim your unclaimed property through the California State Controller’s office.
You could actually have unclaimed money without even knowing it.
That’s something Monique Langer from the State Controller’s Office is trying to change.
“All we need to do now is get the word out and let people know it’s there,” she said. “We’re really excited to get some more claims going and get some more people engaged with our database.”
She says some people have enough in unclaimed cash to potentially lessen the financial stress of the upcoming school year beginning, or filling up your gas tank.
Langer says about 1 in 7 people across the county may have some money ready to claim, and that the average in 2022 was about $433 per person. There’s about $11.9 billion sitting unclaimed in just California, according to Langer.
“That’s just an average. I had about $50 in there several years ago before I even came to work for the state controller’s office. That was a tank of gas at the time. That was a lovely bonus that I was not expecting,” she said.
Where does this money come from? The State Controller’s Office website says it’s defined as “any financial asset left inactive by its owner for a period of time, typically three years. California unclaimed property law does not include real estate.”
So back to that letter — the state won’t reach out to notify you about the unclaimed property, but some “asset locators” or investigators might. They’ll send you this letter and offer a charge to get you the money.
“It is a legitimate practice. It is legal, but they aren’t allowed to charge more than 10% for their services,” said Langer.
But you can avoid that fee all together by putting in your full name and city you live in HERE.
