California may be holding money in your name. Getting it back is free.
The State Controller keeps unclaimed bank accounts, wages, refunds and shares until their owner asks for them. You can search the state's list and claim yours on its own website, at no cost and with no deadline.
EXQUIR is a new California business, still being set up, for people who would rather have someone else do the paperwork. Our fee will be 10% at most, owed only if the state pays you.
The first button goes to claimit.ca.gov, the State Controller's own site. The second is not open yet, and says so.
$12,400 claim
Claim it yourself, for nothing
This comes first because it is the honest order. It is also how you can check everything on this page without taking our word for any of it.
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Type claimit.ca.gov into your browser
Type it yourself; do not follow a link from an email or a letter, including ours. Search your name, and any name you used before.
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File the claim on the state's site
The State Controller's Office processes claims free of charge. For property it holds as unclaimed there is no deadline: it sits there until you ask.
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Sign, and post what the state asks for
Usually a copy of your ID and proof of your address. Your signature must be notarised when the claim is $1,000 or more; many banks do that free for their customers.
- The state's office
- California State Controller's Office, Unclaimed Property Division
- By post
- P.O. Box 942850, Sacramento, CA 94250-5873
- By phone
- (800) 992-4647, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday to Friday
If you would rather we did it
California lets a private business file these claims for people. The state calls that business an investigator, and sets the rules: a written agreement on the state's own form, a fee of 10% at most, nothing owed unless the claim is paid. This is how we will work once we open.
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EXQUIR
We read the state's public list
The Controller publishes every unclaimed property each week. Our software reads it and finds the people it names who have a postal address on file.
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EXQUIR
We write to you by post
The letter lists every property the state holds in your name and tells you, first, how to claim it free without us. Every word is fixed text that a person wrote. No AI writes to you.
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You
You decide
Claim it yourself, ignore us, or reply and ask us to do it. If you tell us not to write again, we delete what we hold and never do.
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You
You sign the state's standard agreement
It lists each property, its amount and who reported it before the place where you sign. It lasts twelve months and you can cancel it in writing any time before the claim is paid.
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EXQUIR
We prepare the claim
We post you the state's claim form, already filled in, with a checklist of what to add and the state's address.
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You
You sign it and post it to Sacramento
You write in your Social Security number and add your ID copies yourself, then post the envelope straight to the state. We never see them. If a notary charges you, send us the receipt and we pay it back.
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The state
The Controller decides
The state considers a complete claim within 180 days of receiving it. Whether it is approved is the Controller's decision, not ours.
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The state
The state pays, in two cheques
One to you for your share, one to us for our fee. If the claim is not paid, you owe nothing and every cost of trying was ours.
How to tell us from a scam
A letter about money you did not know you had should make you suspicious. These are the things we will never do. Anyone who does one of them is not us.
- Ask you for money up front. There is no fee, deposit or expense to pay before the state pays you.
- Ask for your Social Security number, ID or bank details. Those go on the state's form, in your handwriting, in an envelope you post to the state.
- Charge more than 10%. California does not allow more on unclaimed property, and we hold estates to the same limit by choice.
- Say we are the government, or that the state sent us. We are a private business offering a paid service you can refuse.
- Hurry you. Unclaimed property stays with the state until it is claimed. Nobody honest needs your answer today.
- Hold your money. The state pays you directly. There is no moment when your share is in our account.
Where we are today
We would rather tell you than have you find out. As of October 2026 we have no clients and have not sent a single letter. Nothing goes out until every line here is done.
| The software that reads the list, writes the letters and prepares the forms | Built and tested |
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| EXQUIR LLC, the California company | Being formed |
| Registration with the State Controller as an investigator | Next, once the company exists |
| A California attorney's review of where paperwork ends and legal advice begins | Not done yet |
| A California postal address and phone number, printed here and on every letter | Not done yet |
| The first letters | None sent |
Tell us what you would use
None of these is open. Choosing one tells us what to build first, and lets you leave an email address so we can write to you once, when it is.
Who we are
EXQUIR is two founders, one in California and one in Italy. The name comes from the Latin exquirere, to search out.
We started by reading California's published list out of curiosity, and found that it gives a postal address for a great many of the people it names, and that nobody has to tell them the money is there. In the list as published in September 2026 we counted 187,127 people with an address on file who are each owed $5,000 or more: about $3.5 billion between them.
The state cannot write to every one of them. The law lets a registered business do it, on terms the state sets, and we think it can be done in a way people have no reason to distrust: the free route first, a capped fee, nothing up front, and the state paying everyone directly.
Questions, corrections, or a letter you want to check: hello@exquir.org. A person answers.