Forgotten Bank Accounts

Living in Ottawa, you occasionally hear interesting stories on the local TV or Radio, but one really caught my eye because it was about Lost Money and a utility set up by the Bank of Canada to help you find forgotten bank accounts.

The site is called Unclaimed Balances, and it consists of a simple-to-use Search tool for finding out whether you have unclaimed money held by the Bank of Canada.

How is it possible that the Bank of Canada might have money for me? To quote the FAQ on the website:

Unclaimed bank balances held at the Bank of Canada are exclusively Canadian-dollar deposits in, and negotiable instruments issued by, Canadian banks at locations in Canada.

They can be in the form of deposit accounts, bank drafts, certified cheques, deposit receipts, money orders, or traveller’s cheques.

Unclaimed bank balances are maintained by the Bank of Canada, which acts as custodian on behalf of the owner, when there has been no owner activity in relation to the account for a period of 10 years and when the owner cannot be contacted by the Canadian bank holding that asset.

When I first read this, I was astounded because I assumed most banks simply whittled the bank accounts down with service charges and then “closed” them when they had been zeroed. Evidently, I was mistaken.

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My Findings

The tool itself is easy to use. However, if your name is fairly common, like Smith, Jones, or Stewart, be prepared to spend a while looking through your search results. It is better to try to make the search very specific.

I have no such lost booty. However, you might find some long-lost money. It takes a few minutes, but it might be worthwhile.

As a funny side note, when this was first broadcast on CJOH, this website was inundated with searchers, and it crashed many times, but it seems to be much more stable now.