Topic: Unclaimed Property
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We have a checking account for which the customer’s last-known address is in Colorado. Illinois law applies a three-year escheatment period, but Colorado law applies a five-year escheatment period. For reciprocal states like Colorado, should we use Illinois’s escheatment timeframe or the reciprocal state’s escheatment timeframe?
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In this case, we recommend applying Colorado’s five-year presumed abandonment period to the account, since the customer’s last-known address is in Colorado. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) establishes several rules to determine which state has priority to take custody of unclaimed property. The first priority is given to the state of…
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We were not aware of a recent change in the presumed abandonment period for unclaimed money orders. The presumed abandonment period was recently reduced from seven to five years, effective August 5, 2021. For money orders valued at $50 or more, this statutory change left us a little over three weeks to send out our due diligence notices, which we must send out within sixty days of filing our unclaimed property report (due on November 1). We have two years’ worth of money orders that we did not contact the owners about that should be sent this year. What is the best way to handle these?
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We contacted the Illinois Treasurer’s office about this question (without using your bank’s name), and we were told that the Treasurer will not penalize property holders that wait until next year (2022) to report unclaimed money orders. Technically, the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) required you to contact the apparent owners of…
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We have an auto renewing 24-month certificate of deposit (CD) initially purchased in 2007. The date of last contact we have was in 2018. However, the CD does not mature until June of 2023. Do we send the CD in this year, or do we wait until 2023? According to the date of last contact, we should send it in this year, but there would be a penalty or forfeiture of interest if we send it in this year.
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We recommend delaying the reporting of the CD until 2023, when it matures, as permitted under the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA). The Illinois RUUPA states that automatically renewable time deposits do not need to be reported and paid to the Treasurer when doing so would cause the owner to pay a…
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Can we remit abandoned property to the Illinois State Treasurer by a wire transfer or ACH debit? We usually send a check through FedEx but are wondering whether there is a more efficient way to do this.
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Yes, the Illinois Treasurer will accept payment by ACH. Their website instructs property holders to email requests for ACH instructions to [email protected] with your fax number so that they can fax instructions to your bank. Additionally, the Treasurer’s office provide a portal that also processes ACH debit payments. We believe that the Treasurer’s office wishes…
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Our bank is opening its first branch in another state, which will be taking deposits. How should we treat unclaimed property and dormant accounts, and which state’s law should we follow? Does it depend on where the individual resides, or the last known address?
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In general, we believe that the apparent owner’s last-known address will determine which state’s law applies to unclaimed property. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) establishes several rules to determine which state has priority to take custody of unclaimed property. The first priority is given to the state of the apparent owner’s…
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Prior to a deposit account being considered abandoned under the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA), can we charge a dormancy fee when the customer has agreed to pay all fees on our current fee schedule? Our fee schedule contains the dormancy fee but not the time at which it will be imposed. Information regarding timing for the fee is contained in a notice.
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No, we do not believe that your bank may charge a dormancy fee, as the time for imposing the fee does not seem to be described in your account agreement and other incorporated documents (such as a fee schedule), as required by the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA) and fundamental principles of contract…
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We are not currently charging a dormancy fee for our deposit accounts. Last year, we sent out a notice with a new fee schedule containing a new dormant account fee to all of our deposit account customers, and we provide this updated fee schedule when customers open a new account. Are we allowed to charge the new dormancy fee now that we have sent out this new fee schedule and provided more than thirty days’ notice?
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We believe that you may charge the new dormancy fee, but only if your customers have agreed in their account agreement to pay fees as described in your current fee schedule and the fee schedule specifies the time within which the new dormancy fee will be charged. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA)…
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We have abandoned safe deposit box contents stored in our vault from the 1970s. The contents are mainly sentimental items (birth certificates, a will, receipt for a jewelry purchase, an infant’s hospital bracelet) stored in manila envelopes and identified by only the customer’s last name and box number. Do we need to escheat these items to the state even though there is no known monetary value and the only identifying information is a last name? If we don’t escheat them, do we have to continue holding these items or can we dispose of them?
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Yes, we believe that these items must be reported and remitted to the State Treasurer under the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA). The Illinois RUUPA requires that tangible property held in a safe deposit box is presumed abandoned if unclaimed five years after the expiration of the lease or rental period for the…
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We currently do not disclose dormancy fees or when an account is considered dormant in the terms and conditions for our deposit products. However, we send notice thirty days prior to an account going dormant and another notice after the account has gone dormant. If we add the dormancy fee to both notices and wait until thirty days after the account has gone dormant to charge the fee, is this advance notice sufficient to allow us to charge this dormancy fee?
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No, we do not believe that you may charge a dormancy fee that has not been agreed to by your customer in a valid contract. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA) states that the imposition of dormancy charges or escheat fees must be authorized by customers pursuant to a “valid contract.” Additionally, the…
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What recent clarifications were made to the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) regarding when we must report and deliver abandoned automatically renewable time deposits to the State Treasurer?
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Recent revisions to Section 15-603(b) of the Illinois RUUPA allow holders to delay the reporting of abandoned automatically renewable time deposits to the State Treasurer when necessary to avoid a penalty or forfeiture in the payment of interest. Previously, property holders could delay the delivery of such property to avoid a penalty or forfeiture, but…