Unclaimed Property

1
Unclaimed Property

• STA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
• AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA
• OCTOBER 2006

2
NAUPA

• On a national basis, NAUPA members are currently
  holding over 23 billion in abandoned assets.
• In 2005, the states processed over 1.3 million
  claims and returned approximately 1.2 billion in
  abandoned funds to the rightful owners.

3
NAUPA

• Recent press release from West Virginia touted
  their unclaimed property return rate of 117
  percent for fiscal year 2006.
• The state received 9.8 million in holder
  remittances and paid 11 million in claims.

4
NAUPA

• States are able to return a significant amount of
  previously abandoned funds because of expanded
  outreach efforts such as
• MISSINGMONEY.COM

5
NAUPA

• MISSINGMONEY.COM is a website intended to provide
  individuals and businesses with a comprehensive
  resource for researching unclaimed property.
• 38 states, Puerto Rico and the District of
  Columbia either send or are currently in the
  process of sending their unclaimed property
  database to MISSINGMONEY.COM

6
NAUPA

• The ability to search for unclaimed property in a
  variety of states with a single entry is
  extremely beneficial in our highly mobile
  society.
• MISSINGMONEY.COM also provides a direct link to
  the Unclaimed Property programs in all 50 states.

7
NAUPA

• In addition to owner outreach programs, states
  also put an emphasis on holder education
  programs.
• At a national level, NAUPAs Holder Education
  Subcommittee has proposed the possibility of a
  joint NAUPA/UPPO regional training seminar in the
  near future.

8
NAUPA

• Recent NAUPA Executive Committee efforts have
  focused on the mutual benefits of consistency
  among state Unclaimed Property programs with the
  establishment of the NAUPA Uniformity and
  Standardization Committee.

9
NAUPA

• Steve Larson (Iowa) is the Chair of the
  Uniformity and Standardization Committee and
  Heather Wittman (Morgan Stanley) is the Vice
  Chair.
• The committee is comprised of seven members
  four state representatives and three industry
  representatives including Mike Ryan from Red Roar
  Tech and Dave Bourgoin of Marketsphere
  Consulting.

10
NAUPA

• The mission of the Standardization Committee is
  to develop and foster uniform legislation,
  practices or procedures related to the
  administration of state Unclaimed Property laws
  and programs.

11
NAUPA

• The committee established the following goals
• Accomplish changes that can be done
  administratively.
• Create channels of communication to effect
  change.

12
NAUPA

• Within the past year, the Committee has been very
  active in the following areas
• Initiating a review of current relationship codes
  used to indicate how the primary owner is related
  to additional owners of the same property.

13
NAUPA

• Brokering acceptance of the standard NAUPA Holder
  Reimbursement form by all states.
• Compiling a comprehensive matrix of negative
  reporting requirements for all states.

14
NAUPA

• Establishing a Referral Committee to enhance open
  communication between the holder community and
  the states.
• Developing a comprehensive matrix of state
  reciprocity requirements and guidelines.

15
NAUPA

• Recent NAST/NAUPA efforts have focused on
  reuniting millions of Americans with their
  matured but unredeemed savings bonds.
• Over 14.3 billion in U.S. Savings Bonds have
  reached final maturity but remain unclaimed by
  their owners.

16
NAUPA

• The U.S. Treasury does not currently have an
  active program to locate and reunite most of
  these bondholders with their money.
• After much discussion between Unclaimed Property
  policymakers, U.S. Treasury officials and members
  of Congress, the Unredeemed U.S. Savings Bond
  Return Act of 2006 has been introduced.

17
NAUPA

• The Unredeemed U.S. Savings Bond Return Act of
  2006 was introduced by representative Dave Camp.
  The legislation empowers states to act on behalf
  of the Bureau of Public Debt to find owners of
  matured unredeemed savings bonds and facilitate
  the payment of their claims.

18
NAUPA

• The universe of unclaimed property related issues
  and programs continues to grow on a daily basis.

19
NAUPA

• Our efforts to enhance communication and
  interaction with stakeholders will allow us to
  work together to locate and reunite rightful
  owners with their lost property.