| Bank accounts are considered abandoned
if a deposit or withdrawal is not made over a period
of time, generally one to five years. Do you have
unclaimed money at a bank that moved, changed its
name, or closed? Don't assume that because your
bank, savings and loan or credit union no longer
exists that unclaimed funds are lost forever. Your
account may have been transferred to a new bank or a
government custodian after a merger or acquisition.
Even
if your bank failed and closed its doors, you may
still be entitled to collect insurance proceeds, currently up
to $250,000 per account, from government regulators
including the FDIC and NCUA.
Under the terms of the
Financial Institutions Reform Recovery &
Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), the government has
taken custody of several hundred million dollars
worth of insured savings accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts
(IRA) and Certificates of Deposit (CD) over the years, currently holding
unclaimed accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Unclaimed
money may be recovered after years of inactivity,
even if a passbook is lost or destroyed, but you must
act promptly to safeguard your rights, as some claims
are subject to time limits.
To
trace an unclaimed bank account, IRA, credit union account
or lost CD order our Special
Report: Lost Account Search
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