Reporting Specific Property

Uncashed Checks

Most unclaimed property holders have uncashed checks. The period of abandonment for these items varies from one to five years. The abandonment date of the item is the original date the item was payable to the owner, which in most cases is the date the check was issued. Reissuing a check does not change the date it should be remitted to the Unclaimed Property Division.
Below are the property types and dormancy periods, which describe the more common types of unclaimed checks. Also included is the additional information you should provide in the property description field.

Property Types Additional Information
Cashier’s Checks (CK01)(5) Purchasers name, check number (List payee name as owner)
Wages, (MS01)(1); Commissions (MSO2) (1) Dates of employment
Dividends (SC01) (5) Issue name of security
Customer Overpayment (MS05) (3) Account number
Utility Refunds (UT03) (1) Service address, account number
CD Interest Checks (CK16)(5) CD number, check number
Pension Checks (CK11)(5) Employer name is different from reporting holder
Escrow Accounts held by Title Company (TR04)(5) File number, property address
Insurance claim checks (IN01)(5) Claim number, name of insured, policy number (if death benefit, list beneficiary as owner)
Vendor checks (CK13)(5); Payments for Goods and Services (MS04)(5) Invoice number

Property Reported by Financial Institutions

Certificates of Deposit

The dormancy period for a matured certificate of deposit is five years. The dormancy begins the day after the first maturity of the certificate, that is, the day after the end of the first term. Thus, certificates of deposit must be reported five years from the date the owners were first able to recover funds without penalty.

Automatically Renewable Certificates of Deposit

An automatically renewable certificate of deposit is considered unclaimed five years after its initial date of maturity unless the owner has consented to a renewal at or about the time of the renewal and the consent is in writing or is evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file with the holder. For example: In the absence of depositor contact, the dormancy period of an automatically renewable two-year account issued in April 2004 would begin in April 2006 and would be reported in 2011 as abandoned.

Holders should not report an account until after the expiration of the period during which there are penalties for early withdrawal. If an owner contact is established during renewal term, the dormancy period will run from the date of such contact.

IRAs and Keoghs

An IRA account or Keogh plan becomes inactive under the terms of the account or plan. If the fund specifies a distribution date or age, then the dormancy period begins at that point. After three (3) years of inactivity the account is considered unclaimed.

Unclaimed Loan Collateral

Unclaimed loan collateral is considered unclaimed after five years. This period begins on the date the loan was paid in full. Criteria for collateral to be reported as unclaimed are as follows

  1. The loan has been paid in full or charged off.
  2. There has been no customer contact for five years.
  3. The owner's whereabouts are unknown.

When reporting unclaimed loan collateral, use one of two property type codes. For reporting tangible property set aside for a loan, use property type code SD03 (other tangible property). Examples of tangible property would be jewelry, stock certificates, deeds, etc. This would be reported in the same manner as safe deposit or safekeeping property.

Loan collateral must be reported as cash with a property type code MS13 (unclaimed loan collateral). Examples of cash loan collateral are savings accounts and certificates of deposit. When reporting this type property the following information is required:

  1. Collateral receipt number
  2. Loan number
  3. Description of collateral. Example: Issuing bank and the number of the certificate of deposit; bank name and account number for the bank account.

The owner of the property is the person or entity who pledged the loan. If the loan was in the name of a person or entity other than the owner of the collateral, enter the loan name in the description.