General
Information
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed Property can be any financial asset
that is considered lost or abandoned when the owner can not be located for a
specified period of time. Amongst them:
-
Bank accounts
-
Uncashed dividend or cashier's
checks
-
Stocks, mutual fund accounts,
bonds
-
Insurance proceeds
-
Utility deposits and other
refunds
Why does it come to the Office of
the Commissioner of Financial Institutions?
Puerto Rico’s
Act 36 of 1989, as amended, the Abandoned or Unclaimed Money and Other Liquid
Assets Act, requires financial institutions and most other holders to report to
the Commonwealth’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCFI)
any financial property held that is considered abandoned or unclaimed.
Banks doing business in
Puerto Rico
are similarly mandated by Section 37 (a) of the Banking Act of 1933, as
ammended.
The
OCFI is responsible for administering
Puerto Rico’s
Unclaimed Property Program under which property is turned over to the
Commissioner’s office annually when the owner's whereabouts are unknown and the
property has been inactive on the books of the reporting company for five
years.
Reclaiming
Unclaimed Property
How do I find out if I have
unclaimed property?
On this website,
click on "Begin a Search of Unclaimed
Property", follow the directions and provide all requested information.
If you prefer to call or write, provide the owner's name, all previous and
current
Puerto Rico
addresses and a social security number or taxpayer identification number. If a
search of our database results in any matches between the information you
provide and data reported to us, we will mail a claim form to you.
How does the claim process work?
The claim form
includes instructions for its completion and describes documentation that will
be needed in addition to the form. All claims have general requirements such
as:
-
standard forms of
identification for the owner and for the claimant if someone other than the
original owner is claiming
-
verification of the reported
address, if different than the current address
-
if the reported owner is
deceased, the death certificate, and a certified copy of the Court’s
Determination of Inheritance and Treasury Department release
-
specific documentation
according to the type of property such as a bank statement, insurance policy,
the original uncashed check, etc.
When we receive your
completed claim form, if there is not sufficient
proof
of ownership, we may contact you or the reporting
institution for further information. We generally process and pay claims within
30 to 60 days of receipt.
Is
there a charge for this service?
There is no charge for the inquiry process. If your claim is approved, the OCFI
will return the property to you with interest of four percent per year from the
time it was turned in by the reporting institution.