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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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To ensure that outstanding payments still have a chance to reach their recipients, there is the "Bureau of Unclaimed Property" in California. This is not a private institution, but an official state agency that offers the service selflessly without commission.
How much would you estimate the total of all these outstanding payments to be? 10 million? 100 million? Wrong. Brace yourselves: 4.8 billion dollars are waiting for their owners. Last year alone, 239,000 cases were processed, with an average of $1,000 changing hands.
On the website www.sco.ca.gov, companies willing to make payments enter the amount to be transferred and the name of the recipient. If the recipient finds the entry on the internet, they can claim the amount by contacting the payer and providing their new address or account number.
When the link circulated internally at Yahoo, an enthusiastic colleague reached out and reported that she had just discovered that one of her former employers owed her about $150. She had immediately initiated the process to claim the amount and had already planned how to spend it! Americans just can't save...
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