What is unclaimed property?
Under New Brunswick’s Unclaimed Property Act, unclaimed property is money and other monetary property held by businesses, government organizations and other entities (holders) that has been forgotten by its owners. In some cases, the rightful owners cannot be found, or do not know about the existence of the property. New Brunswick’s Unclaimed Property Act protects consumers by providing a means to return what is owed to them. Types of unclaimed property include:
- Overpayments and refunds
- Security deposits
- Amounts payable under a life insurance contract
- Deposits in a provincially regulated financial institution, like credit unions
What is NOT unclaimed property?
The program only covers money and monetary property. The program does not cover the following:
- Real estate
- Furniture
- Animals
- Vehicles
- Forgotten money in bank accounts (Banks and federally chartered caisses populaires are required to transfer to the Bank of Canada unclaimed bank account balances in Canada. Visit the Bank of Canada’s searchable database.)
When does money and monetary property become unclaimed?
For the most part, they are considered abandoned or unclaimed when there has been no account activity on the money or monetary property for at least three years; 10 years for accounts held by credit unions.
The Process
Businesses and entities holding unclaimed property (called holders) report the property to New Brunswick’s Unclaimed Property Program, administered by the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick.
The program receives the holder reports and, once accepted, places the owners’ names into the FundsFinderNB database.
You can search a name on the FundsFinderNB database anytime. If you don’t get any results, check again later. Names of owners are added to the database every year.
If your search generated results, select property/properties that you can prove is rightfully yours.
Start a claim.
Enter your contact info. Don’t forget to provide any previous names or previous addresses.
Provide additional facts to describe why you think this property belongs to you. This information will help us link the property to you. For example, did you live at a certain address at the time the property became dormant? Did you once have an account with the reporting business?
Upload documents as proof that you are the rightful owner.
The Program reviews your claim application to determine if you are the rightful owner. Once you have provided all required documentation, the review process can take up to 120 days.
The Program may ask you to upload additional supporting documents. You will need to upload these documents within 90 days of initiating your claim to keep your current claim active.
The Program will approve or deny the claim. If your claim is approved, the Program sends a cheque within 60 days or – in the case of property such as securities which continue to be held by the holder – reunites you with the holder so you regain control of your property. If the claim is denied as you cannot prove you are the rightful owner, the Program holds the funds until the rightful owner is found. You can always resubmit a claim if you find further information to support a claim.
Check FundsFinderNB’s database frequently. New properties are added each year!