San Diego residents are being urged to check online to see if the city owes them a portion of nearly $1 million in unclaimed money.
The city currently has more than 2,100 accounts totaling roughly $1 million in unclaimed money, much of which belongs to residents and businesses that have done business with the city in the last three years. The payments range in amount from $1 to $66,797, according to the city.
Checks are regularly returned to the city because they are undeliverable based on the address the city has on file. After six months of remaining uncashed, those checks become unclaimed money.
"We want to refund every single dollar of unclaimed money," said Fanela Espiritu, the disbursements manager with the city's Department of Finance. "A simple search is all it takes to verify if you were issued a check that has gone unclaimed. There is no charge to search the data or to file a claim."
Since this time last year, the city has returned nearly $800,000 to 166 recipients, with the average claim totaling $4,753.
Residents can search the city's unclaimed money report at sandiego.gov/finance/unclaimed, which is update each quarter. Money can not be claimed once it has been unclaimed for more than a year, according to the city. Residents have until June 21 to claim checks issued before April 1, 2018.
