Couple seeks help cashing $11,000 check missing for 13 years

CUPERTINO, Calif. (KGO) -- After nearly thirteen years, the case of a missing $11,000 check has been solved.

Everyone has misplaced something at some point in their lives. But some things we lose hurt more than others. This one hurt.

Robert and Shirley Hall remember the day in 2002. It was a day both would rather forget.

"My great aunt passed away," Robert Hall said.

The Cupertino couple were the only surviving relatives and would have to travel out of state to make funeral arrangements.

Earlier that same day, they had gone to the now shutdown World Savings and closed out their certificate of deposit for more than $11,000. When they returned a month later, the check was nowhere to be found. Shirley Hall had misplaced it.

The Cupertino couple had hoped to earmark the money for 2-year old Alexandria's college fund. This is something that haunted them for years.

"We continued thinking about it since it was a large amount. We looked everywhere. Neither one of us could remember where she put it," Robert Hall said.

Through it all Hall said her husband remained calm.

Fast forward to 2013, the Halls decided they would donate their dining room set. That included a hutch. They cleaned out the drawer and in the bottom drawer, underneath a mat was the long lost check.

Unfortunately the check is void after 90 days. By this time World Savings had been bought out twice, first by Wachovia in 2008 and then by Wells Fargo in 2013. Wells Fargo said it could find no record of the check.

The state controller's office, which helps people find their unclaimed money, said the same thing. Also, written on the check was the notation that it was payable through preferred bank. No luck there. No luck either at American Express, which apparently issued the check.

"It made me very frustrated and irritated. Big companies like this once they get your money, you can't get any results," Robert Hall said.

The couple finally contacted 7 On Your Side and we contacted the controller's office. On Friday the 13, the controller's office said it had found the check and sent the couple their money.

"I put it in the bank right away," Robert Hall said.

The controller's office admitted it could have done a better job tracking down the check the first time. It also said American Express failed to report the Halls as the owners of the uncashed check as required by law.

The controller's office also suggested the Hall's should have requested a replacement check the moment they lost it.

Alexandria is now in high school, and expects to have to pay for college in a couple of years-partly with the gift from her grandparents.

Click here for information on how you can get your unclaimed money from California.