Current account, savings account or even life insurance: in France, enormous sums of money sit in boxes, waiting for their owners to come and claim them.
Each year in France, nearly 700 million euros are transferred to a major public body, the Caisse des Dépôts (formerly Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, also called CDC). These huge sums come mainly from bank accounts that have become inactive and unclaimed life insurance contracts.
Fortunately, this money is not permanently lost and it does not immediately fall into the pocket of the State, because the CDC keeps it for a long time, and can return it to citizens who request it (upon presentation of supporting documents and evidence of course).
And the scenarios are more numerous than one might think: a Livret A opened by your parents in your childhood and forgotten when you change banks or even the inheritance of a distant relative, unfortunately deceased and without an heir direct, are actually quite common situations.
For bank accounts and savings products, if the holder is alive, they are considered inactive if no movement has taken place for 1 year. They are then kept for 10 years by the bank, which normally informs the holder once a year, but this approach is not always successful, especially if the latter moves without informing the account holder. After this period, the balance is then transferred to the CDC which keeps it for 20 years. If the holder is deceased, the account is closed and kept by the bank for 3 years if the beneficiaries do not come forward, then transferred and kept by the CDC for 27 years.
The steps are quite similar for expired life insurance contracts. If the holder is alive, the insurer keeps the balance for 10 years, trying to inform the holder each year, then transfers it to the CDC which then keeps it for 20 years. And if the subscriber is deceased, the insurer keeps the balance for 10 years then, if it has not managed to find and inform the beneficiaries during this period, transfers it to the CDC which in turn keeps it for 20 years.
For all these sums and during all these periods of time, you can therefore recover the amounts owed to you from the CDC. And to find out if the organization has money due to you, you can use a free online service: Ciclade. To use the search service, you will obviously need to have some information, such as the first and last name of the account holder or contract subscriber, the account or contract references, the name of the banking establishment or the insurer, etc.
In the event of a positive result, you can then begin the process of requesting restitution, and you will have to provide a certain number of supporting documents, such as a valid identity document, a death certificate of the holder or subscriber, a inheritance certificate, and of course your bank identity statement.