Money mystery: Investigation into missing cash leads to more questions

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two people turned to the Action News investigators after they say certificates of deposits worth thousands couldn't be redeemed.

Action News tried to track down the missing cash, but we found more questions than answers.

When Charles Johnson, of West Philadelphia, helped his parents pack up for a move to Virginia, he found two certificates of deposit (CD). One is valued at a little more than $2,500, the other worth $5,000. Both were purchased as investments in the early 90s.

"They had just put them away and forgot about them," said Johnson.

The problem came when he went to cash them.

"They have no records of the certificates of deposits," he said.

Dave Schultz, of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, echoed Johnson's story.

His CD worth $2,500 from his grandmother also got denied when trying to cash. He claims it's been sitting in his fire safe since 1988.

"It is right here physically in my hand. No alterations, no anything saying that it was redeemed or anything," said Schultz.

"It is not a pressing issue for us to cash these, but we figured since there is so much money we should at least attempt to," said Johnson.

Here's what we know:

Johnson's parents bought one CD from Germantown Savings Bank. Schultz's CD originated from Bucks County Bank.

But over the past few decades, the banks were acquired several times and are now Wells Fargo.

"I don't know what more to do. And that is when I reached out to you guys," said Johnson.

Our team reached out to Wells Fargo to see if they could track down an answer. And the search basically turned up cold.

"With four mergers, I would assume it probably got lost in the shuffle somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised," said Schultz.

Wells Fargo told us after speaking to Johnson's father, it was concluded the CDs were likely cashed.

They believe Schultz's CD was redeemed too but they have no record of them.

"It is just gone basically," Schultz said.

Adding to the mystery: two of the CDs say they're payable upon quote "presentation and surrender." Yet, both parties still have possession of the CDs.

Wells Fargo says that's likely because their records are now digital.

"The individual is supposed to correspond with the banks, at least, at what I always recommend, at least once a year," said Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

Garrity says if a bank issues a CD and if it's not redeemed within three years, it gets turned over to the Unclaimed Property Division.

Her department has a motherload of unclaimed property.

"Four billion worth. Billion with a B," she said.

One out of 10 Pennsylvanians have unclaimed property, the average is around $1,500.

But both Johnson and Schultz's CDs never turned up there either, whether they were cashed -- no one can really say for certain.

And our investigation found this isn't entirely uncommon.

Over the past decade, more than 5,500 people have complained to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about missing CDs, and there have been other reports connected to Wells Fargo of having no record of CDs over the years.

Johnson says he's learned a valuable lesson.

"Keep track of your investments at the maturity of your investments. Make sure you are taking appropriate actions so you don't find yourself in a situation like this," he said.

When a bank folds or goes under, instead of being acquired, a certificate of deposit will move to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Experts say you can turn to Helpwithmybank.gov which helps customers of national banks and savings associations.