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Found an old passbook or CD from a bank that no longer exists?

A passbook or certificate in a drawer shows that an account existed. It doesn't show the money is still there: the account may have been closed, or turned over to a state long ago. Two places to check, in this order.

1. The bank that holds it today

Find the old bank above and follow it to the bank that is open now. Ask that bank to search under the old bank's name, the account number and the owner's name. Have the passbook or certificate and your ID with you. Banks also sell single branches, so if the office you used changed hands on its own, ask the bank that runs that office now.

Be ready for "no record." The OCC notes that federal rules require banks to keep most account records for five years. No record is not proof either way.

If the CD renewed automatically, the bank may have kept rolling it over; the OCC says that otherwise what happens after maturity depends on the account agreement.

2. The state's unclaimed-property program

The OCC's own answer for old records from a bank that no longer exists is to contact the unclaimed-property office of the state where the account was held. Accounts with no customer activity for a period, generally three to five years depending on the state, are turned over to the state, and the bank is usually required to try to reach the owner first.

Search the state of the owner's last known address on the bank's records, and any other state they lived in. Searching and claiming are free through a state's own site, and MissingMoney.com searches most states at once. Firms that offer to find the money for a share of it are usually legal and never required.

If the bank failed

When a bank fails and another takes over its deposits, insured depositors become customers of the new bank right away. For failures since mid-1993, insured deposits not claimed within 18 months of the FDIC starting to pay depositors are offered to the state of the depositor's last known address; if the state takes them, the owner has 10 years to claim there before the money returns to the FDIC. Older failures follow older rules. The FDIC unclaimed funds search lists what the FDIC still holds.

This guide is drawn from the federal sources below, read on November 15, 2026. It is not legal advice, and BankBranches is not a bank or a government office.

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