A total of about $100 million is currently remaining untouched across Korean-American banks.
The Korea Daily has investigated all nine Southern California-based Korean-American banks and their “dormant accounts” recently. The findings were startling as the funds sleeping in those accounts currently amount to a total of $99.3 million across 12,729 accounts. That essentially means that each dormant account is holding an average of $7,800.
Of the dormant accounts, those that have remained untouched for at least three years currently hold $3 million across 1,975 separate accounts. By law, personal bank accounts that have remained inactive for at least three years are considered as unclaimed properties. The funds are then sent to the government.
At Bank of Hope, the largest Korean-American bank in the country, currently hold a total of $75.8 million in dormant accounts, followed by Hanmi Bank with $15.4 million spread across 2,926 accounts.
Banks have been making an effort to contact the owners of the dormant account to distribute the funds, but many of them have not been reachable.
In the United States as a whole, dormant assets reach $7.1 billion, $279 million of which belong to personal and organization accounts at various banks.
Anyone with money left in a dormant account can claim the funds by visiting the California State Controller website (claimit.ca.gov). Retrievable funds include stocks, bonds, insurance fees, inheritance, and escrow.
It is expected that a sizable chunk of those unclaimed properties belongs to Korean-Americans. Just by looking through the California State Controller website, 171,375 people with the common Korean last name Lee currently have unclaimed properties, followed by Kim (115,307) and Park (84,783). A total of 371,465 unclaimed properties belong to people of those three last names.
“Unclaimed properties can be retrieved without a fee,” said a government official. “You not only can retrieve the funds by going on the government website, it also provides a direction on how exactly you can retrieve the properties by reading the FAQ.”
The official added: “There are frauds nowadays via both mail and email claiming that a private business can help you retrieve the unclaimed properties. You must use the government website to retrieve the properties, or by calling 800-992-4647.”
☞Searching and requesting for retrieval of unclaimed properties
Go on the California State Controller website (claimit.ca.gov) and select “Search for Unclaimed Property.” Once the identity of the unclaimed properties is confirmed, requesting for retrieval is fairly easy. The duration of retrieval takes at least 30, but no more than 180 days.
By Sungcheol Jin
