Public entities may have monies being held in the State Comptroller's Abandoned Property Fund
The State’s Abandoned Property Law requires banks, insurance companies, utilities, and other businesses to turn dormant savings accounts, unclaimed insurance and stock dividends, and other inactive holdings over to the State. If there has been no activity in the account for a set period of time, usually between two and five years, the money or property is considered unclaimed or abandoned. Although Section 1402 of the Abandoned Property Law has a $20 threshold for such listing, the Comptroller uses a "$50 threshold” for the listings on his Internet website.
In these times of financial difficulties, every penny counts -- so below is a sample listing of various public entities currently listed as having monies being held by the State Comptroller in the Abandoned Property Fund and which may be claimed by the rightful owner. The Comptroller's dedicated web site for making such searches is at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/ouf/index.htm
How much money is being held in the Fund? Twelve Billion Dollars, give or take a few million.
A search of the Comptroller web site at for “nys dep” resulted in 15 matches, included those listed below.
Name | Address | Reported By | |
ROPES & GRAY LLP | |||
STATE FARM FIRE & CASUALTY CO | |||
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC |
Other public employers and employee organizations are listed by the Comptroller as having monies being held in the Abandoned Property Fund as well, although it may take some detective work as the organization’s “official name” may not be the one being used by the depositing organization.
For example, a search for “County of” resulted in 129 matches such as:
EMPIRE BLUE CROSS & BLUE SHIELD | |||
NATIONWIDE RETIREMENT SOLUTIONS | |||
TELECHECK SERVICES INC |
A search by county name is also possible, such as the following results using the search term “Yates Co”-
SUBURBAN PROPANE PARTNERS LP | |||
AMERIGAS PROPANE LP | |||
PEARSON EDUCATION INC | |||
TRAVELERS INDEMNITY CO | |||
MERCHANTS MUTUAL INSURANCE CO |
A search for 'BOCES' resulted in 26 matches, some of which are listed below.
VERIZON WIRELESS | |||
NEW YORK TELEPHONE CO | |||
COCA COLA ENTERPRISES INC | |||
AT&T CORP | |||
TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT CO L P |
while a search using “school district” resulted in the following “hits:”
SHAKLEE U S LLC | |||
EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE | |||
NEW YORK TELEPHONE CO | |||
EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE |
and there were four matches for “union free school” –
HEWLETT PACKARD CO | |||
PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO OF AMERICA | |||
AETNA LIFE INSURANCE & ANNUITY CO | |||
CHEMTURA CORP |
Searching for “Town of” produced 366 matches, including:
CITIBANK NEW YORK STATE | |||
HSBC FINANCE CORP | |||
CDW LLC | |||
EDP RENEWABLES NORTH AMERICA L |
while a search for “Town clerk” produced 2 matches:
NEW YORK TELEPHONE | |||
CITIBANK NA NATIONAL COMPLIANCE GRP |
A search using the term “village of” resulted in 155 matches including:
EXCELLUS HEALTH PLAN INC | |||
TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT CO L P | |||
ALFRED UNIVERSITY | |||
GALLS LLC |
Public employee organizationshaving funds held by the Comptroller include:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA | |||
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL INC | |||
COCA COLA REFRESHMENTS USA INC | |||
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL INC | |||
VERIZON NEW YORK INC |
and
UNITED STATES LIFE INSURANCE CO | |||
CITIBANK N A | |||
SAM ASH MUSIC CORPORATION | |||
BANKERS TRUST CO |