How N.B.’s New Unclaimed Property Program Will Find Your Misplaced Money
SAINT JOHN – New Brunswick’s Unclaimed Property Act is ready to reunite New Brunswickers with their “unclaimed property.”
The phrase on its own might bring to mind a tract of land in your name that you may not have been aware of. While it’s not that, it is equally tangible – and something both residents and businesses can now take advantage of.
Knowing what to look for may translate to some extra cash in your bank account. For businesses, it can provide relief from any expense or liability that comes from holding unclaimed property on behalf of consumers.
Unclaimed property is money and other monetary property held by a person, business, or other entity that has been abandoned or forgotten by its owner.
Examples of money and monetary property are things like overpayments, refunds, uncashed cheques, security deposits, any amounts payable under a life insurance contract, deposits in a provincially regulated financial institution, (like a credit union), and trust deposits for real estate transactions.
Beginning this year, holders such as businesses, associations and government organizations are now required to review their books to search for monetary property that belongs to someone else.
The provincial government introduced the Unclaimed Property Act in the Fall of 2019 and created a program to better protect consumers from losing track of such funds. The act is administered by New Brunswick’s Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB).
NB businesses begin reporting this year
With the Unclaimed Property Act officially proclaimed as of January 1, any holders are now being encouraged to start considering how they can help reconnect unclaimed property with its rightful owner.
Andrew Nicholson, FCNB’s director of unclaimed property, told Huddle that the Act requires holders of property valued at more than $100 to send a notice to the apparent owner before delivering the property to the program.
He says holders should be sending out notices to apparent owners between July 1 and September 30, 2022.
If the apparent owner can’t be found, Nicholson says the holder will then be required to deliver the unclaimed property to the program between January 1 and March 31, 2023.
The Act also requires holders to determine if property held will become unclaimed property at the end of this calendar year as well as the five preceding years: 2017 to 2021.
For monetary property to be considered unclaimed, it typically means a company hasn’t been in contact with the owner in the last three years.
“Businesses need to prepare this year for that first filing period,” says Nicholson. “They will need to review their books, identify unclaimed property, and make an attempt to contact the rightful owners.”
Reporting by businesses can be done through the program’s online portal.
Success in other provinces
New Brunswick now becomes the fourth province in Canada to implement an unclaimed property program, following in the footsteps of Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia.
According to Nicholson, BC’s unclaimed property program returned $2.7-million to rightful owners in 2019.
Alberta’s unclaimed property registry, meanwhile, was holding more than $103-million in unclaimed property at the end of March 2020.
In New Brunswick, after the first holder filing period, FCNB will begin helping reconnect New Brunswickers with their property, while also trying to raise awareness of the program and the online claim process.
Nicholson says education resources provided by FCNB on its website will help inform New Brunswickers about unclaimed property. They will also give some best practices to help people avoid losing track of their money. They include access to quick guides, answers to frequently asked questions, a step-by-step processing manual for holders, and videos explaining the process.
Nicholson says once the property has been received, the program will then safeguard the funds and provide a searchable list of the information received on the property owners.
Any resident in the province will then be able to search the online database free of charge to see if they have any unclaimed property and, if they do, submit a claim.
Once a claim is verified, the program will then return the money to the owner free of charge.
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].