IID seeking owners of unclaimed credit balances
IMPERIAL — About 250 Imperial Irrigation District customers are owed more than $77,000 after the district was unable to return refunds to them for a variety of reasons over the last three years.
In about six weeks, the money will become IID’s if not claimed.
The district finds itself holding this extra money in situations such as a customer closing an account with a credit balance and not providing a forwarding address, said IID Public Information Officer Robert Schettler. In these cases, the district often has no way of returning the funds.
Attempting to return this unclaimed money, Schettler said, is a standard, annual business practice. Funds become unclaimed when, after three years, the district has been unable to return funds due to customers.
Upon board approval, if the current funds are not claimed by Oct. 16, they will become the property of the IID.
A report on the status of unclaimed money is made to the board prior to any transfer.
Schettler said IID reviews accounts and any related accounts in all efforts to return funds to the customer of record. Phone calls are made, invoices reporting a credit are mailed to customers and public notices are published. It is also advertised on IID’s web portal.
If the customer returns to IID within three years, a credit is applied to their new accounts.
The IID recently published the names twice each in two local daily newspapers of the people who are owed money as well as the amounts.
To claim the money the customer would have to fill out a form to explain why they are entitled to the funds. They need to file a claim by Oct. 15.
Claim forms are available at IID offices and on the IID website at www.iid.com/ unclaimedmoney. The site includes a current listing of names and amounts of unclaimed accounts.
For claims that are approved, IID would mail a check to customers no longer residing within the district. If customers have an active account in their name or a spouse’s name, the credit is transferred to the active account.