Over time, most businesses lose contact with a handful of customers and clients who fall through the cracks without closing their accounts. These dormant accounts are more than just a nuisance. They can be a costly administrative burden unless they’re dealt with promptly. Each year, millions of dollars go unclaimed in B.C. as unpaid wages, overpayments to debt collectors, dormant credit union accounts, outstanding proceeds from courts, pension plans, estates and forgotten real estate deposits. In fact, there’s a staggering $178 million sitting in orphaned accounts in B.C. waiting to be claime ..read more

Sherry MacLennan has joined the BC Unclaimed Property Society as the not-for-profit’s new Executive Director. Sherry brings to the organization more than 25 years of diverse management experience in the legal and non-profit sectors. A practicing lawyer, she has extensive expertise in governance, strategy, operations, digital transformation, community engagement and public legal education. Hailing from Legal Aid BC, where she previously served as Vice President, Public Legal Information and Applications, Sherry oversaw the legal aid application processes, legal clinics, local agents, Indigenou ..read more

On January 1, 2022, New Brunswick became the fourth Canadian province to implement an unclaimed property program to help reconnect consumers with money they’ve forgotten, following in the footsteps of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The Unclaimed Property Act of New Brunswick requires businesses, associations, and government organizations to review their books and identify unclaimed or dormant financial assets. Companies and organizations holding unclaimed funds valued at more than $100 are required to send a notice to owners of the forgotten funds between July 1 and September 30 of th ..read more

When searching for unclaimed funds, Surrey-based retired primary school teacher Sue Wallace first did her homework. She initially became aware of BC’s unclaimed property program three years ago after reading about the BC Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS) in her local community newspaper. She visited the BCUPS’s website and noted there was an amount listed under her name, “Susan Wallace” in the unclaimed property database. “I just dismissed it at the time,” she recalled, thinking that the balance couldn’t possibly belong to her. It wasn’t until February 2020 after her son noticed her name in ..read more

With the federal election behind us, the minority Liberal government is now turning its attention to fulfilling its campaign promises. One item on the agenda is to update the federal unclaimed property regime. In the federal budget tabled last April, the Liberal government proposed to “modernize” the federal unclaimed assets regime and expand the scope of the program by including unclaimed balances from terminated federally-regulated pension plans. While no concrete details on the government’s plans are available, a 2018 consultation paper on draft guidelines for updating the federal unclaime ..read more

Earlier this spring, BC Unclaimed Property Society’s (BCUPS) Executive Director Alena Levitz presented to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) conference on British Columbia’s unclaimed property program. Joined by her counterparts in the UK and Kenya, the event was attended virtually by more than 130 delegates. The NAUPA conference provided an international perspective on how countries outside the United States administer their unclaimed financial assets. Canada Unclaimed property laws in Canada are set out in provincial legislation. To date, only Alberta, Bri ..read more

There is now approximately $149 million in unclaimed money from dormant accounts in British Columbia looking for a home, according to the most recent financial statements from the BC Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS). (Anual Report 2020) Thousands of British Columbians have unclaimed funds waiting for them in inactive credit union accounts, as well as unpaid wages, overpayments to debt collectors, proceeds from courts, pension funds, estates and real estate deposits. BCUPS, whose mission is to put unclaimed money back in the hands of the rightful owners, returned $1,035,932 last year in forg ..read more

According to the most recent financial statements released by the BC Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS) (Annual Report 2019) there is now more than $164 million in forgotten funds from orphaned accounts in the province looking for the rightful owners. This missing money could be a welcome source of financial relief for many BC residents impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. BCUPS, which serves as the administrator of the province’s unclaimed property program, serves as a “lost and found” for forgotten funds in B.C. The not-for-profit Society’s mission is to put unclaimed money from dormant accou ..read more

Every year, a portion of dormant funds remitted to the BC Unclaimed Property Society from businesses and organizations is transferred to Vancouver Foundation to be used for charitable purposes. Vancouver Foundation recently used funds transferred from BCUPS to help establish the Community Response Fund in partnership with Vancity credit union, United Way Lower Mainland, and the City of Vancouver. The fund will support charities that provide front-line services to people who are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 virus and containment measures. The initial $3 million fund is expected ..read more

One of the distinctive aspects of the BC Unclaimed Property Society (BCUPS) is its philanthropic business model, in which a portion of outstanding unclaimed funds are transferred to charity each year to support various community and social programs. Over the past two decades, a handful of countries have also put dormant funds to work to address social issues, notably the UK, Ireland, and most recently Japan. Japan launched its first unclaimed property program this year following the passage of the Dormant Deposit Utilization Act in December 2016.  The program utilizes funds from dormant ..read more