Hawai'i's unclaimed property program says it wants to return $130 million of forgotten bank accounts, checks, stocks and other assets to their rightful owners.

But some people who've applied for the funds say they've been denied payment because they couldn't prove they lived somewhere two decades ago or couldn't prove they were the intended recipient of a check the state possesses.

"It's just goofy," said Julie Callahan, a Pacific Heights resident who was rejected for more than $200 after being unable to show she'd lived in an apartment where the unclaimed checks had been sent almost 30 years ago.

"It's not just such a big deal, but I was thinking if enough people were like me that's a nice little nest egg," Callahan said.

Under state law, companies, banks and others give the state custodianship of accounts that have been dormant for five years. The state in turn tries to get the money or property back to its rightful owners. This includes cash, checks not cashed, unclaimed bank accounts, stock certificates and, less frequently, physical property such as contents of safety deposit boxes.

Each year thousands of people receive millions from the program after filing applications for the money. At the same time millions more accumulates as more companies turn over funds. The state can't touch the money, but interest earned off of the assets pays for the program with the remainder being swept into the general fund. Last year that amounted to more than $4 million.

DIFFICULT VERIFICATION

Optometrist Homer Onizuka said a check of the state's unclaimed property Web site found he was supposedly owed $1,100. He applied for the money and received a letter from the state saying he had to verify he was the correct recipient of the check and that the state had ended up with his money.

After applying for the money, the state told him he needed to get a letter of guarantee from a bank, a photocopy of his driver's license and verification from the company that they had sent a check to him.

Onizuka said First Hawaiian Bank agreed to issue a letter of guarantee telling the state it would be financially responsible if he wasn't the correct recipient. He got his license photocopied without a problem, but getting the verification from the check issuer was impossible.

Onizuka said he believed the check was from an insurance company stemming from a private practice he closed four years ago.

But the insurer doesn't exist anymore and attempts to get verification from another firm that had taken over its assets proved fruitless.

"For over one year now my wife and I have been calling and being referred from one person to another," Onizuka said. "Each one says, 'Oh, you need to speak to (someone else).'

"What gets me is, how many people in this world have my name and my Social Security number?" said Onizuka, who gave up trying to get the money.

"I never had it in the first place and the way things were going I really didn't think I was going to get it."

Scott Kami, who oversees the program for the state Department of Budget and Finance, said the state is aware that some people have problems claiming funds and that he's sought solutions, including subscribing to a data service that helps verify people's addresses going back about 15 years.

He's also instituted a program to identify the largest 75 unclaimed property owners and contact them. During the past year $1 million of the $3.9 million identified has been returned.

But problems still exist because the state doesn't always get a lot of information about recipients from companies who give up custodianship. Kami said accounts where Social Security numbers are available are easy to verify, but there are times when all the state gets is a name without an address or Social Security information.

The state also has problems when there are multiple people with the same name. A check of its Web site shows there are 29 unclaimed assets for people with the name John Smith.

"We might have three to four claims from Bill Brown. We have to make a determination which is the correct one," Kami said.

He said by law the state is required to verify it is giving the money back to the proper person.

RETURNS INCREASED

Kami said the state has tried to increase the returns and the number of people receiving returns has been increasing when viewed on a biennial basis.

Besides operating its Web site, http://pahoehoe.ehawaii.gov/lilo/app, and a telephone inquiry line, the state runs advertisements on the program and goes to fairs and other events to promote the program.

"We believe the number of people that are not able to claim the funds is small compared to the number of people who have been able to claim their funds," Kami said.

That's little solace to Callahan, who said she was asked to provide proof that she resided in an apartment on the Ala Wai in the late 1970s where checks for her had been sent.

"There's not many people that keep utility bills for over 20 years," Callahan said, noting her mother faced the same problem when trying to collect $175 from the unclaimed property program.

"It was kind of puzzling. I thought if it's happening to me, it must be happening to a lot of other folks."

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.