You Could be Rich and Not Know It!

Here's a topic I always love to cover -- the fact that there are billions of dollars in unclaimed monies that have been abandoned (accidentally) by people not knowing they had them. How does this happen? What type of money is left behind? Does any belong to you? This piece from Market Watch addresses these issues. First, here are the monies involved:

Unclaimed utility deposits, insurance refunds, dividend payments, the contents of safe deposit boxes, dormant bank accounts, policies and assets of relatives who have died [and more].

How does this happen? The answer:

That can happen when people move and a forwarding address lapses or when an owner changes his or her name or dies without leaving word about a policy or an account.

What happens to the unclaimed property:

State governments -- usually the treasurer's office but sometimes the attorney general, revenue department or state comptroller -- must hold onto this unclaimed property indefinitely, returning it to you eventually, either for free or for a nominal fee.

How much is there:

In all, state governments held about $22.8 billion in unclaimed assets in 2003, the last year for which the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators has figures.

What's the average claim of money that's found:

Now, you probably don't have a beach house or a valuable painting waiting for you, though both are feasible, but consider that 953,000 claims resulted in $876 million in property being reunited with its owners in 2003. That's an average of $920 per claim, though most state treasurers will say the average is really around $150.

How can you see if any of this money is yours:

Each state maintains an online database where you can search for unclaimed property. You can locate yours by logging onto the NAUPA site or by searching the collective site set up by 40 state unclaimed property offices.

For more details, click through to the article. And good luck -- I hope there's a small fortune waiting for you. :-)

Comments

[Mike]

I just found 99.99 in unclaimed money!!

Thanks for posting this!

[Paco]

From what I understand, these sites are also used to "smoke out" people who have creditors after them. A friend of mine used to work for a collections agency and he said that you'd be shocked by the number of people who, after going "underground" for owing thousands of dollars, would pop up to claim a $20 credit. He said that many times the "found money" would be at the same company that the person owed money to, indicating that some companies invent credits to collect unpaid debts this way. Gotta wonder if the IRS does the same thing.

[Bellen]

State of CT has a web site for this kind of thing, also publishes lists in newspapers periodically. A library aide from our local elementary school called one day to tell me she read my son's name on one of these lists - he was 25 at the time and she remembered his name! - anyway he had a $600+ check waiting for him. Somehow he either didn't pick up a last paycheck or didn't cash it. Anyway, point is in CT the claimed money comes from a special account the state has, not a company so no reason not to claim it.

[soggy]

wow, found $296.84! thanks for the info!

[Jeremy]

Texas owes my Dad $131.91!!! Thanks!

[Victor]

Canadian equivalent to missingmoney.com.

[Victor]

Canadian equivalent to missingmoney.com.

[Cheryl O'brian]

Looking to see if there is any money out there that I didn't know that I may have.

[rc0]

www.missingmoney.com was mentioned last Friday at CNBC's "On The Money".