Santa Barbara unclaimed business money
Updated
The California State Controller holds about $3.0 million for 102 business-type owners with Santa Barbara addresses whose open records total $10,000 or more each.
What the money is
The largest kinds of property held for Santa Barbara business-type owners:
| Property type | Amount | What it usually is |
|---|---|---|
| Checking accounts | $623k | balances left in checking accounts after the bank lost contact with the account holder |
| Underlying shares | $501k | the shares themselves, not just their dividends, after the account went dormant |
| Mutual fund shares | $304k | mutual fund shares |
| Accounts payable | $215k | payments a company owed a supplier (accounts payable) that never got through, where the supplier is the owner |
| Matured CDs | $203k | certificates of deposit that matured and were never rolled over or collected |
The typical Santa Barbara owner on this list is owed $17,820, close to the statewide median of $18,087. 49% of the owners here are trusts or estates, which follow different claim rules from companies.
Claiming it
A Santa Barbara business claims from the Controller like any California business: an authorized person signs the Controller's claim form in wet ink, in front of a notary for $1,000 or more in cash or for any securities, and the package includes proof of authority, the FEIN and the address the holder reported. With 44% of local owners holding more than one record, it pays to search every name and address the business has used.
We do this for 10% of what the state pays, charged only after payment. Check your business or read how it works.
Source: California State Controller unclaimed property file, records of $500 and up, dated November 4, 2026. Open records only (no claim pending or paid), owner address in California, owner = name + ZIP code, business-type names only, government names removed, owners whose records total $10,000 or more. RecoverOwed computation; classifying owners by name pattern is approximate. No individual owner is named on this site.