Once you’ve identified an account for which you wish to initiate a claim, click on "Claim Form," then print out the Payment Authorization Form. To release the funds, the Bank of Canada requires a confirmation of your signature from the financial institution where the funds were initially held.
Fill in the "To be completed by Claimant" portion of the form, then forward it to the financial institution’s address, as noted in "STEP 2" of the Payment Authorization form. The bank should complete its portion of the form and forward it to us. If the financial institution cannot guarantee your signature, it should note this on the form and forward it to us. The Bank of Canada will then ask you for additional documentation in order to prove your entitlement to the balance, such as:
If the financial institution sends the form back to you instead of forwarding it, please send it to us with the documents proving ownership. If you are unable to provide such documents and believe you are the rightful owner of a balance, please send the Payment Authorization Form you have received from the financial institution along with a note explaining why you are unable to provide the documents.
Forward these documents to:
Bank of Canada
Unclaimed Balances Services
234 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G9
In some cases, the branch where the unclaimed balance originated has been closed. If our system does not have a forwarding address for that branch online, the following message will appear on your screen:
The current address for this financial institution is not available online. Please complete the "Submit Your Contact Details" form.
In this case, please complete the "Submit Your Contact Details" form.
The process to claim an unclaimed balance if the account originally belonged to someone else is different.
Please fill the "Submit Your Contact Details" form. Once we have reviewed your request, we will inform you of the documentation required to process your claim.
We may require you to provide the following information:
Please note that you do not need to send anything before we have reviewed your completed request form and ask you for the documents.
Please fill the "Submit Your Contact Details" form that appears in the result page. Once we have reviewed your request, we will inform you of the documentation required to process your claim.
Some negotiable instruments are transferred to the Bank without the name of the recipient and therefore don’t appear in the database. If you believe that you are entitled to an unclaimed negotiable instrument that doesn’t appear in the database, please fill the "Submit Your Contact Details" form so that we may contact you and explain the steps required to process the claim.
It may take 30 to 60 days to process your claim. We may contact you to obtain additional documentation.
Please fill the "Submit Your Contact Details" form. Once we have reviewed your request, we will inform you of the documentation required to process your claim.
Please be prepared to provide us with the following information:
