Bank accounts & CD’s can be declared abandoned if the owner (or surviving relative) fails to communicate over a period of time. This is a surprisingly common occurrence. Reasons for this could be the death of a family member or a name change due to a divorce or marriage. In some cases an individual may switch banks believing they have closed or cleaned out the account, but in fact left a balance in it.

Laws for unclaimed bank accounts vary from state to state. In most cases, after two years without any activity (no withdraws or deposits), and provided the institution tries to reach you but fails, the property will be declared abandoned and will be transferred to the state of the individual’s  last known address. The dormancy period for abandoned saving accounts and CD's is normally longer than that for checking accounts.

Even if the bank moved, merged and changed names, or went out of business, a lost bank account can be located and cashed in. The savings & loan crisis during the 1980s, resulted in the passing of the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery & Enforcement Act of 1989.  It allows you to claim these unclaimed monies up to $100,000 as guaranteed by the FDIC. The Unclaimed Deposit Amendment Act of 1993 gave additional protection for depositors in failed banks and savings & loans.