Posted on Friday, 20th November 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

I’ve talked in the past about escheatment audit risk, the increased scrutiny companies are facing, and the rising state interest in unclaimed property. The bottom line is that unclaimed and abandoned property contributes a large amount of revenue to the States’…well, their top line revenue!

Apropos to that, I came across a story in the Time Picayune in New Orleans, LA regarding the State’s unclaimed property auditing and collection efforts. Benny Spann, director of the Unclaimed Property Division in the Louisiana’s Treasury Department shares some valuable insight about the state’s collection efforts and how it views unclaimed property (or abandoned property).

From the story:

The money collected this year brings the cumulative pot of unclaimed money forwarded to the state since the program began in 1972 to $643.6 million. The program has paid out $206.9 million to 271,808 individuals as of last week, Spann said.

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Posted on Thursday, 19th November 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

The first story is from The Times Picayune in New Orleans, LA. Benny Spann, director of the Unclaimed Property Division of the state’s  Treasury Department details Louisiana’s escheatment audit and unclaimed property efforts.

“Collections are coming in at a record clip because of the state’s stepped-up efforts to audit companies that might have been withholding payments and not turning them over as state law requires. Companies talk, even competitors talk…that the state is auditing more.”

The other story is regarding the Fed’s planned overhaul of the rules governing gift card escheatment. Essentially the Fed is proposing that, “consumers must have at least five years to use the gift cards before they expire,” and that, “service or inactivity can be imposed only under certain conditions.” A number of outlets covered the news, including the Wall Street Journal.

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Posted on Tuesday, 17th November 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

The Fed jumped into the holiday spirit with a recent proposal that impacts gift card escheatment rules.

Since it was announced, we have been having some internal discussions here about the news yesterday that the Federal Reserve is proposing changes to the rules that govern gift card and certificate expirations – and their eventual escheatment to State coffers.

As many corporations are aware, those ubiquitous gift cards that we all see in places like specialty retail stores or super markets, often times go unused by recipients/owners becoming an unclaimed property compliance concern. Not surprisingly, consumers are often unaware or unclear about expiration dates or usage terms, and the cash value of the gift card (or certificate) is escheated to a state’s treasury department to be counted as unclaimed property and revenue.

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