Time running out to claim safe deposit box contents

OLYMPIA — About 700 people who received letters saying they may have unclaimed safe deposit box items waiting for them are running out of time to claim them before the state gets those items ready for an auction. The state Department of Revenue sent letters last month to those people in a last-ditch effort to connect the contents of boxes with their owners. The department has scheduled a two-day auction in November to dispose of the items.

As The Spokesman-Review explained this spring, the department administers the state’s unclaimed property and operates a website with a search engine in which anyone can check to see if he or she has some long-forgotten item like a rebate check, a refund or a deposit box which has been turned over to the state because the owner stopped paying the rent. The department keeps the contents of safe deposit boxes for up to five years after it receives them, but eventually it auctions the items off and places the proceeds in an account in case the owner or an heir shows up sometime down the road. People who received letters should visit the department website to file a claim by Wednesday.