Forgotten money: deadline to redeem ends this Wednesday (16)

According to updated information from the Central Bank, R$8.5 billion is still forgotten in banks, financial institutions and cooperatives. The largest amount available for redemption by legal entities is R$30.4 million and by individuals R$11.2 million.

The lawyer specializing in business law at FGV, Luiz Felipe Attié, explains where much of this “forgotten money” comes from.

“When an institution closes an account holder’s account, there are a series of procedures that they must comply with, these procedures include the allocation of any customers’ credit balances in the current account. So, when the institution opens the account closure procedure, it allows the account holder to indicate the destination of any available balances, and many customers fail to comply with this institution’s guidance.”

Consultation and redemption of values

No site do SRVit is possible to check whether there are amounts to be received and redeem the money, if applicable. For those who have more than R$100 to receive, it is necessary to activate the double authentication factor.

Through the Central Bank system, the requester provides the holder’s Pix key and the amount will be sent within 12 business days. If the person — natural or legal — does not have the Pix key registered in the system, they must contact the financial institution directly to arrange a return method.

The deadline for redeeming values ​​began on September 16th. On that date, the Central Bank announced that R$8.56 billion was available for redemption. The values ​​belong to around 42 million individuals and 3.6 million companies.

“Very short” deadline

The payroll reimbursement law, sanctioned by President Lula last month, has an article that provides a 30-day deadline for recovering forgotten amounts. But the Ministry of Finance has already announced that there will be an extended period of 30 days for customers to make this redemption.

After this period, the amounts not withdrawn must be definitively incorporated into the National Treasury and accounted for as primary revenue for the purpose of meeting the fiscal target.

The Ministry of Finance has also announced that forgotten amounts may be requested after the deadline of up to six months, as long as this request is made in court.

For the master in Tax Law from PUC/SP, Eduardo Natal, the deadline given was “very short”.

“These are amounts that have been deposited for many years and now there is a very short period of time for people to make these redemptions. Even though we are in an environment today of broad communication, many people may not be aware that there are amounts deposited in their favor in bank accounts”, argues the expert.