Uncashed vendor checks and accounts payable

Updated November 8, 2026

When a company pays a supplier and the check is never cashed, or an accounts-payable payment bounces back from an old address, the paying company eventually reports it. The supplier, your business, is the owner.

How it ends up with the state

Remittance addresses change, lockboxes close, a check goes to a former office manager, or a small payment gets lost among larger ones. Businesses that sell to large companies often have several of these from different customers.

When the holder cannot reach the owner for the period set by law, it reports the property to the California State Controller, along with the owner's name and last known address. The Controller then holds it until the owner claims it.

The Controller's categories

What helps prove the claim

Invoices or statements to the paying company, and proof the business used the remittance address on the record. On top of that, every business claim needs the signer's photo ID, proof of authority to act for the business and proof of its FEIN. See the document checklist.

How we help

We search every name and address your business has used, match the records, assemble the papers and file. Our fee is 10% of what the state pays, after it pays.

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. Amounts here count only this kind of property for owners whose total across all kinds is $10,000 or more.