We are going through our list of inactive accounts under the new Illinois unclaimed property law. If a customer has an active safe deposit box account but has an inactive deposit account, can the deposit account be treated as active? Some of the customers with active safe deposit box accounts pay their leases with automated ACH payments, but we have a signature log showing that the customers accessed their boxes. Can we treat those as active?

Yes, we believe that activity on safe deposit box accounts would constitute activity for a deposit account sharing the same “apparent owner” and mailing address at your bank.

The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) provides that activity directed by an apparent owner for an account “shall be an indication of interest in all such accounts” — provided that such accounts share the same mailing address in your institution’s books and records. The Illinois RUUPA defines “apparent owner” as a person appearing on your books and records as the owner of an account, and it defines “owner” as any “person that has a legal, beneficial, or equitable interest in property.” In other words, activity directed by an apparent owner counts as an indication of interest in all accounts in which that apparent owner has a legal, beneficial, or equitable interest, provided that the relevant accounts share the same mailing address.

Consequently, logged activities in safe deposit box accounts that share the same mailing address as a deposit account should be treated as indications of interest in the deposit account.

As to your second question, unlike logged activities that indicate a customer has accessed property in their safe deposit box, recurring ACH transfers for payments on the safe deposit box lease by themselves would not constitute a sufficient indication of interest in the safe deposit account, nor by extension the other accounts with the same mailing address as the safe deposit box account.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-210(f) (“If the apparent owner has another property with the holder to which Section 201(6) applies, then activity directed by an apparent owner in any other accounts, including loan accounts, at a financial organization holding an inactive account of the apparent owner shall be an indication of interest in all such accounts if:
- (A) the apparent owner engages in one or more of the following activities:
  - (i) the apparent owner undertakes one or more of the actions described in subsection (b) of this Section regarding any account that appears on a consolidated statement with the inactive account;
  - (ii) the apparent owner increases or decreases the amount of funds in any other account the apparent owner has with the financial organization; or
  - (iii) the apparent owner engages in any other relationship with the financial organization, including payment of any amounts due on a loan; and
- (B) the foregoing apply so long as the mailing address for the apparent owner in the financial organization’s books and records is the same for both the inactive account and the active account.”)
Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-210(b) (“Under this Act, an indication of an apparent owner’s interest in property includes: . . . (5) a deposit into or withdrawal from an account at a financial organization, except for a recurring Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit or credit previously authorized by the apparent owner or an automatic reinvestment of dividends or interest; . . .”)

Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-102(3) (“‘Apparent owner’ means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the owner of property held, issued, or owing by the holder.”)

Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-102(21) (“‘Owner’, unless the context otherwise requires, means a person that has a legal, beneficial, or equitable interest in property subject to this Act or the person’s legal representative when acting on behalf of the owner. . . .”)

Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-210(a)(4) (“[A]n indication of an apparent owner’s interest in property includes: . . . (4) activity directed by an apparent owner in the account in which the property is held, including accessing the account or information concerning the account . . . .”)