Question: My sister started a passbook savings account for my daughter when she was born in 1997, depositing $100 at International Savings. I did not add to or withdraw from that account and found the passbook recently. International Savings has since closed, with the money still unclaimed. I have checked the online state unclaimed property website, but do not see it there. Would you know what happens to monies that are in an account of an institution that closed?
Answer: Financial institutions are obligated to “escheat” — turn over — unclaimed property to the state after five years, said Edward Pei, executive director of the Hawaii Bankers Association.
That money is placed in the general fund, but there is no statute of limitations on when you can claim that property, he said.
Any amount would be required to be turned over, even just a penny.
However, Pei pointed out that many financial institutions charge an account inactivity fee, which would kick in after a specified period of inactivity.
“The amount of the fee would vary by institution,” he said.
In the case of your daughter’s account, in which there was no activity since it was opened, the fee might have wiped out the $100 savings.
However, Pei suggested contacting Central Pacific Bank, because International Savings and Loan was acquired by City Bank in 2000 and City Bank subsequently merged with Central Pacific.
If you contact CPB, “we will be happy to research” what happened to your daughter’s account and try to locate it, said spokesman Wayne Kirihara.
“We do typically keep records for up to seven years (as bank policy), so it depends on the timing of when the account went dormant,” he said. “Once the account goes dormant, by law we have to escheat the account to the state after five years, so timing is going to be important whether or not we can find any records or can locate the account.”
Kirihara said you can go to any Central Pacific Bank branch to inquire or call its customer service center, 544-0500.
CLAIMING UNCLAIMED PROPERTY
For information on how to search for unclaimed property, go to the state Department of Budget and Finance website at unclaimedproperty.hawaii.gov or call 586-1589.
Unclaimed property does not include real estate. It involves such things as the contents of safe deposit boxes, dormant savings and checking accounts, deposits held by utility companies, insurance and medical refunds, shares of stock, and uncashed travelers checks, money orders, dividend checks and payroll checks.
LOTS OF GIRAFFES
The Aug. 20 Kokua Line about the fountain at Triangle Park, where King Street, Kapiolani Boulevard and South Street converge, credited Charles Watson with sculpting the fountain’s centerpiece (is.gd/VC1XLQ).
We noted that Watson was responsible for several other pieces in the city’s art collection, including the “Giraffe” at the Honolulu Zoo.
Honolulu resident Marlene Blackwell let us know that there are two giraffe sculptures at the zoo, in addition to the live ones in the African Savannah exhibit.
The one created by her late husband, James de la Torre, “is a source of pride for my children (Christina Frolik and Adrian de la Torre) and a reminder that their father was a talented artist and sculptor,” she said.
On the city’s website for its Art in City Buildings Program, de la Torre’s giraffe is described as being “modeled after Nairobi, a reticulated giraffe born at the Honolulu Zoo in 1997.” The sculpture, made in 1998, is near the lions’ exhibit and noted on the map of the zoo handed out to visitors.
Watson’s giraffe, made in 1959 and installed in 1992, is on the lawn near the old elephant exhibit. It’s described as “a stylized sculpture of a giraffe with the body made of welded rebar rings.”
