Unclaimed Bank Accounts held by the Bank of Canada

04/19/2025

So as of 2025, the Bank of Canada is now holding $1.8 billion in unclaimed bank balances.

When an account sits dormant for 10 years, it gets transferred to the unclaimed balances department who holds it for 30 years

It’s easy to search by surname or company name to see if there are any funds belonging to you or your family and friends.

Please share this with friends and family

https://www.unclaimedproperties.bankofcanada.ca

Happy hunting !

09/07/2023

So the link to search for unclaimed bank balances has changed to

02/13/2023

https://apple.news/AQklJgRs9RbSSUkKk4JSFmw

Some of the 175,000 'missing' plan members may have moved to other jobs and are unaware of the benefits they’ve accumulated

08/08/2022

Now this today

https://globalnews.ca/news/9044515/cra-uncashed-cheques-2/?fbclid=IwAR1-a8u4pSU8ydJoHNGQyI9w7IuSSVMO6OKNvqvT5x7ue4djUF38ITmPrqY&fs=e&s=cl

The Canada Revenue Agency says it will be sending e-notifications about uncashed cheques to 25,000 Canadians this month.

01/28/2022

Please share this with your friends and family see

About Unclaimed Balances
A Canadian-dollar account, deposit or negotiable instrument held or issued by a federally-regulated bank or trust company is considered an “unclaimed balance” when:
* it has been inactive for 10 years, and
* the owner cannot be contacted, or the owner has been contacted but no action was taken on their part to reclaim their funds.

Once a year between November and December 31, unclaimed balances are transferred to the Bank of Canada, which acts as custodian on behalf of the owners.

By the numbers:
* At the end of 2021, approximately 2.5 million unclaimed balances, worth $1.06 billion CAD$ were on the Bank's books.

Over 93 percent of unclaimed balances were valued at under $1,000, representing 26 percent of the total value outstanding.

* In 2021, the Bank paid out $15.2 million to balance holders.

* The oldest balance dates back to 1913.

Types of balances held:

Only the following types of unclaimed balances are held by the Bank of Canada.

Accounts
* Current/chequing accounts
* Savings accounts

Deposits
* Positive credit card balances
* Term deposits
* Guaranteed Investment

Certificates (GICs)
* Deposit receipts

Negotiable instruments
* Bank drafts
* Certified cheques
* Money orders
* Official cheques
* Traveller's cheques

Finding an Unclaimed Balance

To find an unclaimed balance to which you may be entitled, you can search the Unclaimed Balances Registry, free of charge.

https://ubmswww.bank-banque-canada.ca/en/Property/SearchIndex

The registry displays information on balances greater than $2.00, as submitted to the Bank of Canada by the financial institution or trust company.

If you are unable to find an unclaimed balance, it may be because your account has not been inactive for more than 10 years or your unclaimed balance has not yet been transferred to the Bank of Canada, as this happens only once a year by December 31. In these cases, you need to contact your financial institution to retrieve your funds.

Please select the type of search you would like to perform. You may search for balances that belong to an individual, or a business, or you may search by a specific account or instrument number.

04/09/2021

Here’s another place to search for unclaimed dividends as a result of a bankruptcy filing in Canada, you may be a creditor who is owed money

There are currently 132,855 records in the database with total amount of unclaimed dividends of $24,529,896. The largest single amount of an unclaimed dividend is $179,636

Unclaimed dividends represent money collected for creditors by Licensed Insolvency Trustees (LITs) during a bankruptcy that, because the creditor cannot be located, has not been distributed. To be eligible to receive money in a bankruptcy, creditors must have filed a Proof of Claim with the LIT.

04/09/2021

Hey everyone,

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06/17/2020

Short on cash? One federal department is looking for the owners of $133 million in uncashed cheques
Another federal department is also looking for people to cash in on $46 million

Read in National Post:

Another federal department is also looking for people to cash in on $46 million

02/29/2020

Apparently CRA has an area of unclaimed refund cheques owed to people ! This is a totally different pot of money available for individuals to check

A little-known feature on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website is netting some Canadians hundreds of dollars they are owed from uncashed government cheques.

12/21/2018

It's almost that time again ! Come January 2019, the Bank of Canada will receive the next batch of unclaimed funds that are dormant for 10 years - likely another 20 million plus ! Check out the site in January to see if your friends and family or lost relatives are owed any funds ! Seasons Greetings All !

07/13/2018

There's still a ton of unclaimed money owned by Canadians and their families that has been lost ! Please share this information with your friends and family ! Every year the pot grows when more funds that have been dormant for 10 years get added to the database.

If you have relatives who passed away more than 10 years you can search for their names to see If anything was missed in their estates that has now been deemed unclaimed !