Queens gets the money? NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli sure hopes so, along with the other four boroughs. There’s currently $18.4 billion—yes, billion with a “b”—sitting in his office’s custody, waiting for the rightful owners to collect, including nearly $5 billion owed to New York City residents.
Kelly Kuracina, assistant bureau director for the Office of Unclaimed Funds, said the money can belong to almost anyone, but they need to check first.
“It really comes from all different types of transactions that you might have, from a bank account that you used and maybe forgot about, to a gift card that you received and didn’t use, or maybe a check that you [should have] received [that] got lost in the mail,” she said. “Any type of financial transaction can turn into unclaimed funds. It can happen to anyone, so Comptroller Tom DiNapoli naturally really wants to spread the word and let people know.”
How do New Yorkers go about finding whether they’re owed money and how can they collect it? Kuracina said they can simply look up lost funds online under their name or organization from the comptroller’s website. The office also sends out letters to inform those with lost money. From there, they can file a claim.
To be clear, most unclaimed funds aren’t windfall fortunes—they’re typically south of $100—but balances as high as $9.2 million currently are metaphorically gathering dust (the money goes toward the state’s general fund in the meanwhile). Larger sums could come from an uncashed last paycheck or being unknowingly named as a life insurance beneficiary.
There’s no catch, so why does the amount of money held go up by roughly a billion dollars each year, even when $1.5 million is collected each day? Kuracina pointed to a few barriers keeping New Yorkers socially distanced from their own money. Collection sometimes requires some red tape, such as court documents and death certificates, although address verification through valid ID like a driver’s license often does the trick. In an age of scam calls, phishing emails, and catfish texts, a government agency appearing to reach out about free money with no strings attached is naturally met with suspicion.
Kuracina advised New Yorkers who receive messages about unclaimed funds to only trust websites starting with “http:” and ending in a “.gov.” She added that the office does not provide an actual unclaimed fund balance until after identities are confirmed.
“We do everything that we can to make sure that we’re putting the security in place to make sure that the information that you provide us and that we provide you is protected, but you do need to be on guard—you need to make sure. Sometimes websites really do a pretty good job of mimicking government websites, and so sometimes it’s okay to say ‘I want to pick up the phone’ or ‘I want to send [verification] in the mail.’ You can always go to our website and get good information and verify that through Google or through something else, but you want to be looking to make sure that you’re dealing with a trusted website.”
Last month marked the busiest time of the year for unclaimed funds because all banks report in November. Through bank accounts alone, around $400 million was added to the office’s custody.
To drive awareness, DiNapoli’s visit to the Bronx last week highlighted the $118 million in unclaimed funds owed to the borough, which boasted a 31% Black population as of 2021 according to census data retrieved by the office.
“We want to encourage our residents, businesses, and nonprofits to reach out to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s Office to see if they are owed any unclaimed funds,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson over email statement. “Currently, the state has $18.4 billion in unclaimed funds and each day they return $1.5 million back to New Yorkers. Especially during the holiday season, any amount of financial compensation can have a huge impact on the budget of a working-class family and brings money back into our borough.”
And remember when Kuracina said anyone could have a balance? Well, DiNapoli managed to track down $2,190 in unclaimed funds for the Bronx Museum of the Arts, which he presented in one of those oversized checks.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.