LOS ANGELES – Most states have programs to track unclaimed money and property, and California is no exception.
Here, the Unclaimed Property division is run by the California State Controller. Businesses and individuals can search their names and then claim their unclaimed cash and items.
A review by KTLA has found more than $100,000 waiting for the “Happiest Place on Earth,” six pages of listings for Disneyland and other entities related to the Anaheim theme park.
Clean Harbors paid Disneyland $19,766.48, which has not been claimed. Marriott paid Disneyland $3,069.36, which has also sat unclaimed.
The Los Angeles Dodgers paid Disneyland $2,032.00 for something marked “refunds due.” Disneyland hasn’t cashed it in.
Xerox, Bank of America, the L.A. County Fair, Costco — they all have unclaimed money waiting for the theme park. Other parks and Disney’s competitors do, too.
SeaWorld has $2,399.40 that Disneyland hasn’t claimed.
NBC Universal, the parent company of Universal Studios, apparently paid Disneyland $578.00 for something called “vendor checks,” which has still gone unclaimed. Also on the list:
- Eastman Kodak: $4,700.16
- Orbitz: $211.06
- Expedia: $7,875.00
KTLA reached out to Disneyland about these unclaimed funds but didn’t receive a response.
And it turns out Disneyland isn’t alone.
Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Metropolitan Water District, Southern California Edison, USC, UCLA, the city of Los Angeles, the Girl Scouts and the Hollywood Bowl all have unclaimed money waiting for them.
In fact, there are businesses, school districts across California and even government agencies that have thousands in unclaimed money.
If Disneyland or any of these others want to cash in, the state has a website where you can click on each item of unclaimed money or property, enter the requested information, and then the state will see if their claim is eligible. The state says the Unclaimed Property Division is experiencing significantly higher claims volume these days. It seems everyone may be looking for that hidden cash.
By the way, KTLA also found that the California State Controller has pages and pages of unclaimed funds (more than $150,000) that the agency itself hasn’t claimed.
- Johnson Controls: $32,672.12
- Johnson and Johnson: $6,224.28
- Farmers and Merchants Bank: $2,720.92
- HBSC Bank: $3869.61
- Insight North America: $6,763.81
- IAC Interactive $11,967.54
- First Republic Bank: $14,586,25 and another for $11,258.58
- Alorica: $30,065.98
- Mechanics Bank: $16,264.79
- Motorola: $33,532.88
- Koch Industries: $10,378.56
We alerted the State Controller’s Office, which blames it on old and out-of-date systems, telling KTLA, “We are aware of the Controller being listed as an owner of unclaimed property on our website. In most instances, the information is simply reported by the holder incorrectly. Our current antiquated system presents many challenges in ensuring the proper holder data is accurately entered, but we are in the process of migrating to a new system that will mitigate this issue.”
