Due Diligence Letters: What Holders Must Send Before Reporting

The short answer

California holders — banks, insurers, employers — try to notify an owner before reporting unclaimed property to the State Controller under Code of Civil Procedure §1530. If that notice goes unanswered, the holder files its report and remits the property, which the State then holds indefinitely, with no deadline for the owner to claim it.

A due diligence letter comes from the business holding your property, not from the State and not from a recovery firm.
Most businesses file their report with the Controller before 1 November and remit the property between 1 and 15 June; life insurers work on a 1 May filing and 1–15 December remittance cycle.
Once property reaches the Controller, California sets no deadline for claiming it, so a missed or ignored letter does not forfeit the money.
A holder that reports or pays late owes the Controller 12 per cent annual interest unless it had reasonable cause or completes the Voluntary Compliance Program.
If a letter arrives before the property has been reported, the fastest response is to contact the holder directly — there is nothing yet for a recovery firm to find.

What is a due diligence letter, and who sends it?

A due diligence letter is the notice a holder — a bank, an insurance company, an employer, any business sitting on an account that has gone quiet — sends in an attempt to reach the owner before it reports that property to the California State Controller. It carries the holder’s name, not the State’s and not ours. If you have one in hand, it means a specific company believes an account, a policy benefit, or a check made out to you has gone unclaimed long enough that it is about to be reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530.

That report is the first of two steps. The holder files it with the Controller, and later pays or delivers the actual property under §1582(a)(1)(A)’s reference to Code of Civil Procedure §1532. The letter you received sits in the gap before either of those things has happened.

When does the letter arrive, relative to a holder's filing deadlines?

Holder reporting in California runs on two fixed calendars. Most businesses file their report with the Controller before 1 November and remit the property between 1 and 15 June of the following year. Life insurance companies work on a different schedule: they file before 1 May and remit between 1 and 15 December. A holder that needs more time must ask for an extension no later than 30 days before its report is due.

A due diligence letter, when one is sent, lands in the months before that filing date — which is why it so often references an account that has sat untouched for years rather than one opened last month.

What happens if I don't respond to the letter?

Nothing dramatic, and nothing final. If no one claims the property before the holder’s deadline, the holder files its report and, on its own calendar, pays or delivers the property to the Controller. From that point the State holds it, listed in its public records, until the owner or an heir files a claim. California sets no deadline for that claim. The money does not expire for having been reported.

The one real exception has nothing to do with a due diligence letter: an estate that has been permanently escheated through county probate is gone, and no claim against it will be paid. That is a probate outcome, not a consequence of ignoring mail from a bank. If you are dealing with an inheritance rather than an account in your own name, probate estates work differently and are worth checking separately.

If I still have the letter, should I contact the holder or come to you?

Contact the holder. If the property has not yet been reported to the Controller, it is still sitting with the bank or insurer named on the letter, and our index of 14,639,722 Controller records will not show it because it has not reached the State yet. There is nothing for a search or a recovery agreement to act on at that stage. Responding directly to the company is the faster route, and it is the one we would recommend even though it does not involve us.

Our work starts once the property has actually moved to the Controller. That is the point at which an owner can search our records to confirm it has arrived, and the point at which a recovery agreement becomes possible at all — California law makes an agreement invalid if it is signed between the holder’s report date and the date the property is paid to the Controller.

The letter is long gone and the money has already gone to the State — now what?

If the due diligence period has passed, the property has very likely been reported, and may already have been paid to the Controller. That is when it becomes searchable and claimable, and when our service is actually useful. We charge a percentage of what is recovered, never a fee in advance, and nothing if nothing is recovered. For property reported under §1530, that fee cannot exceed 10 per cent of what comes back, by law. Estates that reach the State through county probate are not subject to that cap, since they arrive under the Probate Code rather than §1530.

Start with a search of our property records to see whether the account turned up, or go straight to full-service recovery if you would rather we handle the filing. Our pricing page sets out the fee structure in full.

What should a business holder know about sending these letters correctly?

A holder that fails to report, pay, or deliver property on time owes the Controller interest at 12 per cent per annum, calculated from the date it should have reported, unless the delay was for reasonable cause. The Controller waives that interest for a holder that completes the California Voluntary Compliance Program, which runs year-round and can be joined at any time rather than only during a fixed enrollment window. For a company trying to work out whether its own reporting history is clean, a business escheatment audit is the place to start before interest accrues further.

Questions People Ask

Is a due diligence letter the same as a claim form?

No. A due diligence letter comes from the business holding your property, sent before it reports that property to the State Controller. A claim form is what an owner files afterward, once the property has reached the Controller, to get it paid out.

Can I ignore the letter if the amount is small?

You can, without losing the money. California places no deadline on claiming unclaimed property once it reaches the Controller, so a small account reported and remitted later is still there to be claimed, however long you wait.

The letter asks me to pay a fee or confirm personal details upfront. Is that normal?

Be cautious. A legitimate holder notice is about an account you already own and should not require payment to verify your identity. If something about the request feels off, our guide to spotting a finder scam is worth reading before you respond.

How do I find out if my property has already been reported to the State?

Search the Controller's records directly. We index 14,639,722 of them, covering accounts, checks, and policy benefits reported by businesses across California, and the search costs nothing to run.

Does a due diligence letter apply to money I might inherit, not an account in my own name?

Not usually. Due diligence letters relate to property a business reports under §1530. Inherited property that passes through county probate follows a separate track with its own file, and claiming as an heir or executor works differently.

What will it cost to use your firm once the property reaches the State?

Nothing upfront. We charge a percentage of what is recovered, capped at 10 per cent for property reported under §1530, and nothing at all if nothing comes back. Probate estates are not subject to that cap.

Sources

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 20 October 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.

How You Are Protected

Our fee is capped at ten per cent of what is recovered by Code of Civil Procedure §1582, and nothing is owed until the State Controller has paid you. If we recover nothing, you owe nothing. Our recovery fee is never asked for up front — it comes out of money the Controller has already paid you. A booking deposit on an in-person appointment is a separate thing, and is credited back against anything you are charged.

California Unclaimed Property Services is a private asset recovery firm. We are not the California State Controller’s Office.