Non-Sufficient 'Me'-ness

California has this Unclaimed Property Division. I'm sure you all know what that is. You know, the place where you go to find money you didn't know you had? Yeah.

They also have a website, where one can go to see if your name is on the list. I ran my name through the search, and found that I was owed about $400 from a finance company.
I last had any business with said company, HSBC, sometime in 2003, when I paid off a car loan. It looked like maybe I had gone a payment too far, so I applied for return my funds.

This included:
An official request form.
A notarized affidavit claiming that I was who I am.
Any document that contained my name and Social Security Number (like a pay stub, S.S. Card, etc.)
A photo-copy of a government issued photo I.D.

I gathered all this up, and sent it off to the State Controller's office for processing (which was stated that I should allow up to 180 days for anything to happen).

This was on February 7th of this year.

Last week I received a letter (dated August 3rd, just within the 180 window), denying my claim.

The reason: I must furnish documentation showing that I had an account, or did business with, the company (HSBC) that reported the unclaimed property.

Now I'm pissed off.
The State already knows that funds are owed to 'Me'.
They have advertised that fact publicly on their website.
In response, I have already sufficiently documented my 'me'-ness.
And why isn't the fact that HSBC, who held the funds for 'Me', under my name, before surrendering them to The State in my name proof enough that I had a relationship with them?

California has already been sued, and lost, in the courts over it's rather shady attempts to keep unclaimed assets for itself. The website is a result of one such lawsuit that claimed the State wasn't following the law in attempting to find the proper owners.
(Other suits have been to prevent the State from continuing it's overly aggressive attempts to seize inactive accounts and safe-deposit boxes.)

It looks like I may need to place a phone call to my local politician to see if he can cut some red tape for me.


(cross posted @ Grumpy Old Men)