You might have money sitting in a government account right now, and the state may have little incentive to tell you about it.
A CBS News investigation into unclaimed property has sparked a bipartisan response in Washington. Federal legislators are now looking to overhaul a system critics say funnels Americans’ savings and investments into state coffers.
The investigation revealed that California alone holds over $15 billion in unclaimed assets — everything from forgotten bank accounts and uncashed checks to insurance payouts and old investments. Of that, the state has returned just 3.5% to rightful owners, according to CBS (1).
And that pile of cash isn’t just sitting idle.
Per the budget documents CBS News reported on, unclaimed property totals $1 billion annually — up from $452 million in 2015 — and ranks among the state’s top revenue sources.
California keeps the interest earned on those funds and is under no obligation to return it, even if the original owner eventually comes forward, CBS reports.
Responding to the investigation, Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler introduced the Safeguarding Americans’ Fairly Earned Retirement (SAFER) Act, which would prohibit states from seizing securities, digital assets, or investment accounts unless an owner’s death has been confirmed (2).
Under current law, states can take custody of dormant financial accounts after as little as three years of inactivity — even if the owner is alive and simply unaware.
“This is absurd,” Liccardo said. “The reason people invest in long-term retirement is they expect these assets to appreciate over time — and they should get the benefit of that appreciation.”
Lawler was equally pointed about the structural problem: “There’s no incentive for them to actually notify the individual. They just collect the interest in the hope that the person never notices.”
The bill would also bar states from liquidating seized investments, which under current California law must be sold within about 20 months of being taken. This means when owners come forward, they only get what the assets fetched at sale — not what years of potential growth, dividends or appreciation would have otherwise accrued.
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“These are the hard-earned dollars of Americans … and they’re being taken right out from under them by the government,” Lawler said. “That’s just not right.”
The political pressure isn’t coming only from the House. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has sent a formal letter to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) requesting a state-by-state breakdown of how unclaimed property programs operate, and whether recent rule changes are making it easier for states to claim more, not less.
“We started hearing a story here, a story there, saw reporting … but also noticed that more states are starting to change their laws — not to return money, but to scoop up more for the state,” Warren told CBS News.
Her letter points to a striking gap: In 2024, states returned $4.49 billion to owners, against an estimated $70 billion held nationwide — a return rate of roughly 6%.
In response, NAUPA pushed back, arguing that state programs protect consumers by ensuring that funds don’t simply sit indefinitely with private companies. “Without unclaimed property programs, lost or forgotten assets would often remain indefinitely with private companies and never be returned to the rightful owner,” the group said.
NAUPA estimates one in seven Americans (about 50 million people) have forgotten funds waiting to be claimed, with the average person owed nearly $1,1154 as of 2023 (3). The money can come from virtually anywhere: old savings accounts, uncashed employer checks, stock dividends, insurance benefits or security deposits from a long-ago apartment.
If the SAFER Act passes, it would, for the first time, establish a federal framework overriding the current patchwork of state-by-state unclaimed property laws, a change the Investment Company Institute says is needed to give investors “greater consistency and protections nationwide.”
This represents a major shift in who benefits from Americans’ forgotten assets. Until it happens, you can search for unclaimed property through NAUPA’s free database (4) or, if you’re in California, through the State Controller’s Office (5).
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CBS News (1); Office of Rep. Sam Liccardo (2); National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (3); MissingMoney (4); California State Controller’s Office (5)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Lawmakers look to stop states profiting from unclaimed property — including California’s $15 billion in abandoned assets
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