Find San Diego Unclaimed Money Fuss-Free

iEditorial Note: These blog posts represent the opinion of DoNotPay’s Writers, but each person’s situation and circumstances vary greatly. As a result, you should make sure to do your own independent research. Because everyone is unique, our self-help tools are never guaranteed to help with any specific situation. DoNotPay is not a law firm, is not licensed to practice law, and is not equivalent to the services of a licensed lawyer. DoNotPay provides a platform for legal information and self-help, and does not offer legal services. Third party news articles mentioned on our website do not necessarily reflect the views of the company, or the current services that we offer.

San Diego Unclaimed Money Waiting for You? Claim It With DoNotPay!

Moving to another city or state is stressful and involves a lot of work. It’s no wonder that many people forget to update their former employers or relevant financial institutions about the new address. The assets that many people leave behind becomes unclaimed money over time, and the state treasuries are overflowing with it.

DoNotPay has developed a search platform that makes finding your lost assets a piece of cake, whether you have unclaimed insurance money or unclaimed inheritance from deceased relatives that you didn’t even know about.

What Counts as Unclaimed Money in San Diego?

Unclaimed money or property encompasses many different categories. Many people don’t know they can collect some cash from the state because they forgot or didn’t know about what types of assets qualify.

Some people decide to leave smaller amounts of money when they relocate because they don’t deem it worth collecting. A good example is uncollected refunds for minor purchases that didn’t go well. Other people fail to notify the money holders of their address change and move on without collecting their safe deposits, last paychecks, or insurance premium refunds.

If the person or institution that holds your money doesn’t have the proper means to contact you, the money will end up under the control of San Diego’s Department of Finance or San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector.

While unclaimed money may look unworthy of your time and effort, you should know that the City of San Diego holds nearly one million USD worth of uncollected property that should be distributed to 2,100 accounts in 2020. According to the Times of San Diego, some payouts go as low as $1, but one lucky San Diegan qualifies for a whopping amount of $66,797.

Types of Unclaimed Money in San Diego, CA

To help you identify unclaimed money that may belong to you, we have compiled a table of tangible and intangible property categories:

Intangible PropertyTangible Property
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Coins
  • Pictures
  • Diamonds
  • Works of art
  • Other items found in safe deposit boxes

Is There a Time Limit for Reclaiming Lost Property in San Diego?

In many states across the country, the government institutions will keep the unclaimed property under your name indefinitely or until you submit a claim. For the residents of San Diego and San Diego county, the time constraints are not so harmless.

According to the City Charter, Section 86, all temporary holders of the unclaimed property need to submit the funds to the local agency after one year. The agency issues a public notice and allows 45 days for the rightful owners to submit their claims. If nobody files a claim for the money, it goes to the city’s General Fund and cannot be claimed anymore.

A similar process works for the whole county. The county treasurer keeps any abandoned property for three years. Every summer, the office publishes a list of unclaimed assets worth more than $15 in county-wide newspapers. The owners have 45–60 days to file their claim, or the funds become the county’s property.

How To Get San Diego Unclaimed Money on Your Own

The procedure and official resources for reclaiming your abandoned property depend on whether you are or were a resident of the City of San Diego or San Diego county.

Reclaiming the City of San Diego Unclaimed Money

The following procedure will help you reclaim any abandoned property currently in possession of the City of San Diego:

  1. Review the current Unclaimed Monies Report that you can find on the Department of Finance Unclaimed Money page
  2. Complete the Request for Unclaimed Monies Form when you locate your funds
  3. Send your claim to City of San Diego, Department of Finance, Unclaimed Monies Claim Processing, 202 C Street – Mail Station 7A, San Diego, CA 92101

To ensure successful processing of your claim, pay special attention to the current contact details and your Social Security number or tax ID. If you’re submitting a claim for funds bigger than $1,000, a public official will need to notarize your claim first. The processing time for unclaimed money claims usually takes three to four weeks.

Besides the claim form, you will need to submit the supporting documentation. The table below offers an overview of required documents depending on your circumstances:

Individual

  • Copy of a valid photo ID
  • Address verification if you have relocated in the last two years

Heir

  • Death certificate copy
  • Proof that you are the rightful beneficiary

Business

  • Address verification if you have moved in the past two years
  • Copy of current Form W-9
  • Letter of authorization on company letterhead
  • Merger agreement copy (if applicable)
  • Copy of the articles of dissolution (if applicable)

Recovery Agency

  • Copy of the agreement between the third-party recovery agency and claimant

Reclaiming the San Diego County Unclaimed Money

If you wish to get a hold of your property currently held by the county treasurer, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Abandoned Properties page on the treasurer’s website
  2. Select Abandoned Properties from the Select List drop-down menu
  3. Search the database by your name
  4. Click on the icon next to the Abandoned Property Claim Form to download it after you find your assets in the result list
  5. Fill out the form, include the supporting documentation, and mail everything to San Diego County – Treasurer-Tax Collector, *Attn: Abandoned Property Claims, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 152, San Diego, CA 92101-2475

The processing time usually takes four to six weeks.

Find Your San Diego Unclaimed Money With DoNotPay

While using these official resources will do the job, why not speed up the process by using DoNotPay’s search engine for unclaimed property in the U.S.?

Our platform is a great resource for finding unclaimed assets in every state. Our app will list all unclaimed property under your name with one search, which is particularly useful if you’ve changed residence multiple times.

Follow these steps, and you won’t have to open tens of different databases to locate what is rightfully yours:

  1. Sign up for DoNotPay in any
  2. Select the Missing Money feature
  3. Enter your contact details
  4. Choose the property that belongs to you and hit Claim My Property

With DoNotPay, you will have access to various state and federal databases and submit all your lost money claims from one place!

DoNotPay Knows How To Handle Bureaucracy

Our search platform is so powerful that finding abandoned money in any state—including Alaska, Texas, or Arkansas—is a child’s play. Wondering how reclaiming lost assets from banks works? Check out our articles about Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

Your DoNotPay subscription will help you do so much more. With our assistance, you can avoid parking tickets in San Diego, find the best clinical trials in the area, or schedule a DMV appointment with no fuss.

Access our app from any and learn how to:

Fight for your rights