Janice Coleman Seeks Missing $25,000 CD After Bank Finds No Record
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
Janice Coleman Seeks Missing $25,000 CD After Bank Finds No Record
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
Summary
$25,000 is at the center of Janice Coleman’s yearslong search after the 79-year-old found a certificate of deposit from 1990 and was told the account no longer existed.
Banks can lose track of old CDs when accounts go dormant: after a state-set inactivity period—often three or five years—they must try to contact customers and then transfer abandoned funds to state unclaimed-property programs.
Coleman said she checked multiple states’ unclaimed-property registries, contacted financial regulators and hired a law firm to obtain tax records, but still could not confirm what happened to the money.
The case highlights a broader risk for forgotten bank accounts, especially when the original bank has since been acquired by another institution.