Topic: Unclaimed Property
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Under the new Illinois unclaimed property law, the five year lookback requires us to go back to January 1, 2013. Do we go then go back another three years to January 1, 2010?
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Yes, we recommend that the five-year lookback extend to January 1, 2010, for most property types. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) requires that the initial report made in 2018 must incorporate a lookback covering “all items of property that would have been presumed abandoned during the 5-year period preceding the effective…
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Under the new Illinois unclaimed property law, there is a requirement to report all related property as abandoned. Does this require us to report all accounts with the same ownership as abandoned property, once one of the accounts becomes abandoned?
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No, we do not believe that the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) provisions regarding “related property” apply to property with common ownership. The Illinois RUUPA provisions regarding related property apply when property is presumed abandoned and other property has accrued or is accruing from that property. Our understanding is that this “related…
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We sell both money orders and cashier’s checks. Under the new Illinois unclaimed property law, should we apply a three year abandonment period to both products?
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No, we read the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) as imposing a three-year presumed abandonment period on cashier’s checks and a longer, seven-year presumed abandonment period on money orders. The Illinois RUUPA defines “money order” as “a payment order for a specified amount of money” and refers to cashier’s checks as instruments…
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Under the new Illinois unclaimed property law, it appears that our due diligence notices provide the owner with thirty days to respond, even though we can send the notice between sixty days and a year before our filing deadline. Is that correct?
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Yes, the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) requires property holders to mail out due diligence notices at least sixty days and no more than one year before filing a report with the Illinois Treasurer. However, the law requires that the due diligence notices include text requesting a response from the property owner…
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Our bank sends checks to the family in order to honor deceased customers. If such a check never is cashed, even after we attempt to contact the deceased customer’s family, what procedures should we follow?
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If such a check remains uncashed and undeposited for three years, your bank must report the check to the Illinois Treasurer as unclaimed property. Under the new Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA), a check on which your bank is directly liable will become reportable as unclaimed property when three years have passed…
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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?
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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…
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For certificate of deposit (CD) accounts that automatically renew, if we have other active accounts with the same ownership and address, do we still need to obtain the customer’s acknowledgment of each renewal?
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No, the new Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) does not require a bank to obtain written acknowledgments from CD owners for each CD renewal. Even in the absence of such written acknowledgements, CDs will not become unclaimed if there are other qualifying indications of interest in the CDs. The Illinois RUUPA would…
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Under the new Illinois unclaimed property law, the threshold for sending a due diligence letter has increased from $10 to $50. Are we correct in understanding that we do not need to send due diligence letters to customers who have outstanding interest checks if the check amounts are under $50? Do we just turn that money over to the state?
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Yes, your bank is excused from sending due diligence letters for customers holding outstanding interest checks valued at less than $50. The Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) requires property holders to send a due diligence letter only “if the value of the property is $50 or more.” This provision applies equally to…
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One of our customers died two years ago. An estate representative came to the bank and closed the customer’s deposit account last year. The teller who closed the account neglected to inform the estate representative that the customer also held a safe deposit box, which remains open. The teller also neglected to collect the estate representative’s contact information. Can we drill the box and remit the contents as unclaimed property? Or does the estate representative’s visit count as an activity?
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Yes, we believe that your bank may report and remit the safe deposit box property to the Treasurer’s office under the Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA). As a general rule, safe deposit box property is considered unclaimed five years after the expiration of the lease or rental period for the box. But…