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Posted by R. C. White on March 6, 2008, 12:22 am
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Hi, P.
As a very junior auditor nearly 50 years ago, one of my first audits was of
a small bank in Oklahoma. A standard auditing technique then (and maybe
still) was to confirm a sample of deposit accounts, especially dormant
accounts. That is, we would mail a letter to the depositor asking him/her
to confirm to us that, yes, that account was theirs and that the amount
agreed with their own records. Most of the replies were routine, but one
was from an elderly lady who said, "Thank you for reminding me. I forgot
that I had that money in there!" That savings account had not been
touched - except by interest added - for several years. The balance was
about $14,000 - and that was in 1960!
It was several years later that I first heard the word "escheat". As
someone else said, it was common for banks to levy a monthly or other
periodic surcharge on dormant accounts; given a long enough time, this would
eventually wipe out the balance in most accounts, eliminating the "dormant
account problem".
Every year, the controller or treasurer or other official of most states
publishes a list of "unclaimed accounts". These are assets that have
escheated to the state because the owners cannot be located. The bank or
other holder is not allowed to simply expropriate the asset, but must turn
it over to the state, which will hold it until the owner can be located and
identified and can claim the property. When I lived in California, we were
amused that the state officials were unable to locate Bob Hope, Doris Day
and several other well-known owners of such accounts. Here in Texas, each
year's list usually includes several prominent citizens.
One more anecdote on this subject: When we moved from California in 1080,
we closed our bank accounts there, but a miscalculation by the Bank of
America left us with one cent in my wife's checking account. For several
months, she continued to get the monthly statement showing that penny
balance. Finally, BofA sent her a Cashier's Check for $0.01 to close the
account. She was too embarrassed to ask some teller to cash that small
check, so I did it for her. Having been on the other side of the desk, I
did not want that account to show up on the bank's list every month for
years - and some poor clerk have to reconcile it.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Quicken 2008 Deluxe in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
> Just noticed last night that one of our Chase accounts had disappeared.
> At first I paniced, and thought we had been hit with a theft... but it was
> worse.
> Chase - in their effort to protect their customers - tags an account as
> "dormant"
> when it doesn't have any activity for x amount of time.... maybe 6 months.
>
> SO - this "savings account" had not seen any "activity",
> therefore it was tagged as dormant, and removed for online viewing,
> Quicken downloading, or any other access.
> Isn't that the idea of a "savings account", to sit and grow ?
> Guess not from the Chase point of view, it needs "activity".
>
> The only way to make it re-appear, was to visit a local branch office.
> Even the online customer service folks could not re-activate it.
>
> I told the nice CSR that I will take care of that - and go to the branch -
> and close the account..... and then no more problem.....
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Posted by Han on March 6, 2008, 6:26 am
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@corp.supernews.com:
> When we moved from California in 1080,
> we closed our bank accounts there
Let me be the first to congratulate you on your longevity, R. C.
Quite impressive, LOL.
--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid
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Posted by R. C. White on March 6, 2008, 9:01 am
Please log in for more thread options Hi, Han.
Yeah, I burst out laughing this morning when I read my own post. ;^}
It should have said 1980, of course. I'm old, but not OLD!
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Quicken 2008 Deluxe in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
> @corp.supernews.com:
>
>> When we moved from California in 1080,
>> we closed our bank accounts there
>
> Let me be the first to congratulate you on your longevity, R. C.
> Quite impressive, LOL.
>
> --
> Best regards
> Han
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Posted by Oilcan on March 7, 2008, 11:35 am
Please log in for more thread options I had one share of stock in a company that paid a quarterly dividend of
$0.25. They did not have direct deposit available. After I moved to CA
from TX, I discovered I had $0.25 in unclaimed funds in the State of Texas.
I filled out the paperwork, probably spent $0.50 (postage was much cheaper
then) and got my check for $0.25. Foolish - perhaps - but I did not want
the State of Texas to have my money forever!
Oilcan
> Hi, Han.
>
> Yeah, I burst out laughing this morning when I read my own post. ;^}
>
> It should have said 1980, of course. I'm old, but not OLD!
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> (Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
> rc@grandecom.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> (Currently running Quicken 2008 Deluxe in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
>
>> @corp.supernews.com:
>>
>>> When we moved from California in 1080,
>>> we closed our bank accounts there
>>
>> Let me be the first to congratulate you on your longevity, R. C.
>> Quite impressive, LOL.
>>
>> --
>> Best regards
>> Han
>
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Posted by Don R on March 8, 2008, 8:56 am
Please log in for more thread options P.Schuman wrote:
> Just noticed last night that one of our Chase accounts had disappeared.
> At first I paniced, and thought we had been hit with a theft... but it was
> worse.
> Chase - in their effort to protect their customers - tags an account as
> "dormant"
> when it doesn't have any activity for x amount of time.... maybe 6 months.
>
> SO - this "savings account" had not seen any "activity",
> therefore it was tagged as dormant, and removed for online viewing,
> Quicken downloading, or any other access.
> Isn't that the idea of a "savings account", to sit and grow ?
> Guess not from the Chase point of view, it needs "activity".
>
> The only way to make it re-appear, was to visit a local branch office.
> Even the online customer service folks could not re-activate it.
>
> I told the nice CSR that I will take care of that - and go to the branch -
> and close the account..... and then no more problem.....
>
I had the same problem with dormant accounts disappearing. My solution
was to set up a small automatic transfer from checking to savings. The
bank counts this transaction as "activity." I transfer $25 each month,
but I suppose the amount could be smaller and the frequency just short
of the time period needed to keep the account active.
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