Arkansans can now claim cash and valuables held by the state online.
Arkansas Auditor Charlie Daniels holds about $178 million in money and property that belongs to people and businesses the state can’t locate. The items are held in trust by the state until claimed.
Banks and corporations nationwide turn over checks, stocks, bonds, abandoned bank accounts and safe-deposit items to the auditor’s office when the owners are unreachable.
Companies that hold property considered abandoned must turn it over to the state auditor by Nov. 1 each year under Arkansas Code 18-28-209.
Before the law was passed in 1979, banks and financial institutions would keep unclaimed money or items.
Under the old system of claiming money, a person would first visit the auditor’s website. If that person found his name on the site, he would be directed to an electronic claim form that provided vague information about the value of the property. That form had to be notarized and mailed to the auditor’s office along with a copy of the person’s driver’s license to prove his identity.
“It was taking an average of 30 days” to receive a check, spokesman Janet Harris said.
For many claims under the new system, a person can fill out and submit the form online at www.auditor.ar.gov and get the money within seven days.
“People expect to be able to do business online,” Harris said. Some people with small claims of $25 or $50 didn’t want to go through the hassle of printing out a form, having it notarized and mailing it in, Harris said. She estimated that up to 50 percent of claims handled by the office will be submitted online.
The auditor’s office has contracted with Lexis-Nexis to verify that the person trying to claim the money is who he says he is, Harris said. Lexis-Nexis, a Irvine,Calif.-based corporation with an enormous news, public-records and legal documents database, will charge the state $1.80 to process each claim. The money will come from the auditor’s regular budget, she said.
Harris said claims cannot be made online if the property is jointly owned, or the owner has died or the amount of money exceeds $2,500.
Those claims must be submitted in person or mailed in.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/21/2013