Dormant Account / Escheatment.

In plain English

A dormant account is a bank account that has had no customer-initiated activity, no deposits, withdrawals, or logins, for a long stretch, often several years. After a state-set period of inactivity, the law requires the bank to report the account as unclaimed property and send the balance to the state. That handover is called escheatment. The money is not lost: the state holds it for you, and you can claim it back at any time, usually for free, by proving you are the owner.

01Why it matters

Forgotten accounts (an old paycheck account, a savings account from a closed job) can quietly escheat to the state, and the only way to get the money is to know to go look for it.

02The math, step by step

You leave 300 dollars in an old checking account and forget it. After your state's inactivity period (often three to five years for bank accounts, though it varies by state and account type), the bank reports it as unclaimed and sends it to the state. Years later you search your state's official unclaimed-property site, find the 300 dollars, and file a free claim to get it back.

03What this is NOT

04Receipts

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