There are more than $2.5 billion worth of unclaimed bank accounts and non-land properties, such as dividends, in this country.<\/p>\n
The Bank of Canada is holding $1.6 billion worth of unclaimed accounts, B.C. has another $222 million, there\u2019s $168 million in Alberta, $515 million in Quebec and $47.2 million in New Brunswick.<\/p>\n
The best part is that searching and reclaiming them is free.<\/p>\n
At federally regulated institutions, inactive accounts become unclaimed if they are unused for a decade. Nationally, the Bank of Canada (BoC) holds onto these accounts, and they can be reclaimed before their deadlines. The BoC\u2019s deadlines are 30 years for accounts worth under $1,000 and 100 years for more than $1,000. If the deadline passes, the federal government gets to keep the balance in the account.<\/p>\n
Banks are legally required to notify account holders in the second, fifth and ninth year of an account\u2019s inactivity.<\/p>\n
You can also easily search online for unclaimed accounts by name.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanadians can visit the Bank of Canada\u2019s\u00a0Unclaimed Properties Office (UPO) website<\/a>\u00a0, where they can search if they have an unclaimed bank balance,\u201d said BoC\u2019s media relations specialist Am\u00e9lie Ferron-Craig, in an email.<\/p>\n There are also provincial registries for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Qu\u00e9bec. The provinces keep the property according to their own deadlines, which vary from one year to 30 years.<\/p>\n Manitoba has no official unclaimed property registry despite passing unclaimed property legislation in 1988. Ontario has no substantial unclaimed property legislation and no unclaimed property registry.<\/p>\n Provincially, searching and claiming an account is free through the\u00a0Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0BC Unclaimed Property Society<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0FundsFinderNB<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Revenu<\/a>Qu\u00e9bec<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n Typically, accounts go unclaimed after address or name changes, or death.<\/p>\n But they are reclaimable if you can provide proper documentation, such as identification. Processing times vary by registry.<\/p>\n The number of claims has grown in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past five years, $83.3 million \u2026 in unclaimed bank balances has been returned to rightful owners. The trend is improving \u2014 annual payouts have grown from $15.2 million in 2021 to $20 million in 2025, representing a 32 per cent increase over the period,\u201d Ferron-Craig said.<\/p>\n New Brunswick\u2019s registry is newer.<\/p>\n \u201cWith only a few years of data, it is too soon to identify meaningful trends in the amount of property being claimed,\u201d said FundsFinderNB\u2019s communication team in an email.<\/p>\n Alberta\u2019s reclaiming trend decreased slightly during the COVID pandemic but has recovered.<\/p>\n \u201cClaims trends declined during and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic to a low of nearly $868,000 in 2023, and have increased to about $3.4 million in 2025,\u201d according to the Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all about pocket change. According to prior media reports, two accounts from the Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal totalling $667,000 were claimed by Manuel Vinhas, with one account containing $552,000. No further information has been provided.<\/p>\n The provinces work to raise awareness with the U.S. on Unclaimed Property Day every Feb. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cOutreach initiatives, including events such as Unclaimed Property Day, help increase traffic to the registry. In addition, media campaigns and news stories usually lead to a marked increase in visits and searches in the registry in the days that follow,\u201d wrote Revenu Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s public relations department spokesperson Claude-Olivier Fagnant.<\/p>\n BC Unclaimed is collaborating with the Canadian Football League to increase visibility.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did a public opinion poll last year and it found that only seven per cent of British Columbians were aware of us as an organization and of those, most of them didn\u2019t even really know what we did. So, we\u2019re planning on doing the opinion poll again this September, and we\u2019re certainly hoping that we\u2019ll see greater awareness. We\u2019ve just partnered with the BC Lions for its second year in a row and, (we\u2019re) hoping to get good traction with that advertising campaign,\u201d said BC Unclaimed\u2019s executive director Sherry MacLennan.<\/p>\n Collectively, B.C. and Quebec have thousands of ongoing proactive location efforts for property reunification.<\/p>\n Many of the accounts held by the Unclaimed Properties Office are worth less than $100. The UPO holds accounts worth at least $2.<\/p>\n Sometimes, the paperwork outweighs the rewards.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s a bit of work, but if it\u2019s a large amount, it\u2019s worth the effort. If it\u2019s a very small amount, it might not be worth the effort. And we try to advise people up front about that so, they can make an informed decision,\u201d MacLennan said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a risk that scammers could exploit uninformed Canadians.<\/p>\n To avoid scams, the Bank of Canada website notes that \u201cthe Unclaimed Properties Office does not charge a fee for processing a claim.\u201d The BoC also \u201cdoes not collect personal or financial information from individuals through email or by telephone\u201d and \u201cdoes not sell or issue\u201d any crypto assets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bank of Canada is aware that fraudulent attempts can occur. Claims are subject to rigorous verification processes, and those that do not meet requirements are denied, ensuring funds are returned only to their rightful owners,\u201d said Ferron-Craig.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was only one incident that we were aware of, where the claimants actually tried to forge documents, and they were just so obviously forged and so badly done. It was quite apparent. So, we closed that down in a hurry,\u201d MacLennan said.<\/p>\n Quebec limits the public information available on its registry to protect personal data, Fagnant said.<\/p>\n FundsFinderNB\u2019s communication team said there have not been any successful claims by scammers, to their knowledge.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause anyone can search the registry, we\u2019ve built strong security measures into the system to block false or fraudulent claims,\u201d said Alberta Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance\u2019s Press Secretary Juliana Rodriguez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are more than $2.5 billion worth of unclaimed bank accounts and non-land properties, such as dividends, in this country. 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