How to find out if you are owed some of the $2.5 billion in unclaimed Canadian accounts

How to find out if you are owed some of the $2.5 billion in unclaimed Canadian accounts Searching and reclaiming inactive accounts at federally regulated institutions is free There are more than $2.5 billion worth of unclaimed bank accounts and non-land properties, such as dividends, in this country. The Bank of Canada is holding $1.6 billion worth of unclaimed accounts, B.C. has another $222 million, there’s $168 million in Alberta, $515 million in Quebec and $47.2 million in New Brunswick. The best part is that searching and reclaiming them is free. At federally regulated institutions, inactive accounts become unclaimed if they are unused for a decade. Nationally, the Bank of Canada (BoC) holds onto these accounts, and they can be reclaimed before their deadlines. The BoC’s deadlines are 30 years for accounts worth under $1,000 and 100 years for more than $1,000. If the deadline passes, the federal government gets to keep the balance in the account. Banks are legally required to notify account holders in the second, fifth and ninth year of an account’s inactivity. You can also easily search online for unclaimed accounts by name. “Canadians can visit the Bank of Canada’s Unclaimed Properties Office (UPO) website, where they can search if they have an unclaimed bank balance,” said BoC’s media relations specialist Amélie Ferron-Craig, in an email. There are also provincial registries for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Québec. The provinces keep the property according to their own deadlines, which vary from one year to 30 years. Manitoba has no official unclaimed property registry despite passing unclaimed property legislation in 1988. Ontario has no substantial unclaimed property legislation and no unclaimed property registry. Provincially, searching and claiming an account is free through the Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration, BC Unclaimed Property Society, FundsFinderNB and RevenuQuébec. Typically, accounts go unclaimed after address or name changes, or death. But they are reclaimable if you can provide proper documentation, such as identification. Processing times vary by registry. The number of claims has grown in recent years. “Over the past five years, $83.3 million … in unclaimed bank balances has been returned to rightful owners. The trend is improving — annual payouts have grown from $15.2 million in 2021 to $20 million in 2025, representing a 32 per cent increase over the period,” Ferron-Craig said. New Brunswick’s registry is newer. “With only a few years of data, it is too soon to identify meaningful trends in the amount of property being claimed,” said FundsFinderNB’s communication team in an email. Alberta’s reclaiming trend decreased slightly during the COVID pandemic but has recovered. “Claims trends declined during and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic to a low of nearly $868,000 in 2023, and have increased to about $3.4 million in 2025,” according to the Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration. It’s not all about pocket change. According to prior media reports, two accounts from the Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal totalling $667,000 were claimed by Manuel Vinhas, with one account containing $552,000. No further information has been provided. The provinces work to raise awareness with the U.S. on Unclaimed Property Day every Feb. 1. “Outreach initiatives, including events such as Unclaimed Property Day, help increase traffic to the registry. In addition, media campaigns and news stories usually lead to a marked increase in visits and searches in the registry in the days that follow,” wrote Revenu Québec’s public relations department spokesperson Claude-Olivier Fagnant. BC Unclaimed is collaborating with the Canadian Football League to increase visibility. “We did a public opinion poll last year and it found that only seven per cent of British Columbians were aware of us as an organization and of those, most of them didn’t even really know what we did. So, we’re planning on doing the opinion poll again this September, and we’re certainly hoping that we’ll see greater awareness. We’ve just partnered with the BC Lions for its second year in a row and, (we’re) hoping to get good traction with that advertising campaign,” said BC Unclaimed’s executive director Sherry MacLennan. Collectively, B.C. and Quebec have thousands of ongoing proactive location efforts for property reunification. Many of the accounts held by the Unclaimed Properties Office are worth less than $100. The UPO holds accounts worth at least $2. Sometimes, the paperwork outweighs the rewards. “So, it’s a bit of work, but if it’s a large amount, it’s worth the effort. If it’s a very small amount, it might not be worth the effort. And we try to advise people up front about that so, they can make an informed decision,” MacLennan said. There’s also a risk that scammers could exploit uninformed Canadians. To avoid scams, the Bank of Canada website notes that “the Unclaimed Properties Office does not charge a fee for processing a claim.” The BoC also “does not collect personal or financial information from individuals through email or by telephone” and “does not sell or issue” any crypto assets. “The Bank of Canada is aware that fraudulent attempts can occur. Claims are subject to rigorous verification processes, and those that do not meet requirements are denied, ensuring funds are returned only to their rightful owners,” said Ferron-Craig. “There was only one incident that we were aware of, where the claimants actually tried to forge documents, and they were just so obviously forged and so badly done. It was quite apparent. So, we closed that down in a hurry,” MacLennan said. Quebec limits the public information available on its registry to protect personal data, Fagnant said. FundsFinderNB’s communication team said there have not been any successful claims by scammers, to their knowledge. “Because anyone can search the registry, we’ve built strong security measures into the system to block false or fraudulent claims,” said Alberta Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance’s Press Secretary Juliana Rodriguez. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.