Search the list: South Australians owed millions in old repayments
Thousands of people could be in line for a cash handout – but might not know it yet. According to the State Government there’s a total of $36m in unclaimed repayments waiting to be returned to rightful owners. Are you due a windfall? SEARCH THE LIST
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The State Government wants to return millions of dollars to thousands of people who are owed money by businesses and government departments.
It has published a list of 9471 people owed a total of $36m, so that people can search for their names, or the names of loved ones. The list includes people owed $500 or more, according to information released to a debt collection agency, so beneficiaries can be found.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. After including the more than half a million individuals, companies and government departments owned as little as $10, the tally rises to $65.6m. But finding those owed the money is often problematic, because address changes are the cause of the payment failure.
Maurice Pratt, director of Nationwide Claims Service, which uses the government information to find those owed money, said the company had recovered more than $10m over five years for 1850 clients.
“When we receive the data from the government, we try and find people based on their old address,’’ he said.
“This process is quite difficult even using the private investigator we have. Unfortunately there is no easy way to track where people move to.”
There is no known address for the three top beneficiaries, who are owed, $3.5m, $1.2m and $800,000.
Mr Pratt said a person called Aron Feldman was listed as being owed $3.5m from the Public Trustee but he could be deceased, living overseas or his name misspelt.
“Even if we found someone with that name, as there is no address, there is not enough detail for the government to be convinced that the money belongs to him,” he said.
Thirty eight people are owed more than $100,000. Many lesser repayments are refunds caused by overcharging of everyday household bills. AGL owes 421 people and companies $505,785.
Other money owing is for inheritance, overpaid bills, share dividends, interest payments, and even workers compensation claims.
Treasurer Rob Lucas said eventually the money became the property of the taxpayer if those owed could not be found.
All businesses headquartered in South Australia are required by law to hold a register of all amounts over $10 that have not been claimed for six years. If the money remains unclaimed after seven years, the business must advertise the unclaimed money in the SA Government Gazette. After two years of advertising, if the money remains unclaimed, the money is paid to the Treasurer for use as public revenue.