I had 50.00 in a bank account and due to illness and mental lapse I forgot about the account. When I remembered I had the account I checked with the bank and was told it had been closed as the Government had seized the money due to lack of activity. Any way to get the money back?

I haven't heard of the government seizing a bank account because of inactivity. Why would they bother with $50. Unless you had a judgment against you at some period in time and it was taken for taxes owed.

Tick

What State and how long was the account inactive?

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Originally Posted by tickle

I havent heard of the government seizing a bank account because of inactivity. Why would they bother with $50. unless you had a judgment against you at some period in time and it was taken for taxes owed.

tick

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This is, in fact, somewhat common in NY. Searching for these "lost accounts" is big business. The Government - in this case - is the State, not the Feds.

It also depends on the type of account. I've seen banks continue to withdrawn service charges/fees on cold accounts until the balance is gone.

Hello people. YES, the gov't CAN and DOES seize "dormant" bank accounts... WITHOUT notice to you. Doesn't matter - $5 or $500,000. And they have really become aggressive about it. This is what I was told by two major banks yesterday. For money market accounts, and for savings accounts, the time for 'inactivity' is 12 months.
For checking accounts it is from 3 to 6 months of inactivity. YOU MUST call your banks or better yet, go visit. Arrange for automatic transfers, or deposit a dollar or withdraw a dollar every month or two... just make sure there is activity. AND... the banks ARE NOT REQUIRED to notify you, folks! I almost lost my entire life savings yesterday. Just by chance I stopped into the bank after a year of traveling... I had 30 days left until they turned my life savings over to the Gov't. BE AWARE and BEWARE!!

Depending upon the State the funds are held in a special fund for a period - seizing them doesn't mean they are gone forever.

This is a question from 2009.