Where To Find Unclaimed Money and Unclaimed Property
Unclaimed money and other intangible personal property
held by corporations and others must, by law, be turned over to the appropriate
state governments. This is done to protect the rights of owners of this
unclaimed property. The state governments normally keep such funds in interest
bearing accounts until it is claimed by the owner or heirs. Fortunately,
in recent years, political pressure has induced almost all of these government
agencies to become "proactive"
in returning this money to the rightful owners. Thus were born the free
government "unclaimed money websites". We show you how
to find these sites.
Some examples of unclaimed money are: utility deposits,
lost tax refunds, stocks, bank accounts, unclaimed life insurance pay outs,
the contents of safety deposit boxes, and even gift certificates that were
unused.
Where To Find State Unclaimed Money
To search for state unclaimed money, you'll need to go
to the appropriate state's Office of Unclaimed Property website using
the links on the left of this page.
Where To Find Federal Unclaimed Money
The United States Federal Government also has web site searches available
for unclaimed money such as unclaimed tax refunds, VA benefits, US Savings
Bonds, FDIC insurance claims and more. To search for these you need to go
to our
FEDERAL page.
How To Begin Searching For Lost Money
Begin your search in the state where you live or the state
where your recently moved from. Search under your name and any previous names,
such as a maiden name, if applicable. You should start with a broad search
using just the last name (not possible in some states). If you get a large
number of "hits", refine your search by adding your first initial
and possibly your full first name. You can also try your middle initial.
The reason for this is to make sure you find any listings that might be under
last name only, last name and initial only, and or any listing with misspelled
first or middle names (which could be the reason you never received the lost
money).
Also check for common misspellings of the last name.
The next step is to search unclaimed property records in other states you
have lived in and states where your ancestors have lived. Don't limit yourself
to any one state. A company holding unclaimed money will, in some cases,
turn the missing money over to the state in which it is incorporated.
Move on to
federal records after
searching state records. Many
IRS refund checks
are undelivered each year due to illegible or incorrect addresses. Do you
have
US Savings Bonds that are no longer drawing interest?
Use the federal links to check them out. Did you ever work for a company
whose
pension fund was taken over by the federal government
or have a bank account in a bank that went bust? These are also reasons to
go looking in the federal unclaimed property links.
Finally, remember that you can search for family members and friends. If
you find their name, send them to the appropriate site to file their own
claim. And very importantly, remember that
you can claim lost money
or lost property that belonged to someone of whom you may be an heir.
If you find money, the state office will ask you to provide evidence that
you are the rightful owner of the unclaimed property. What you'll need as
evidence will be different in each state, but documents such as a death certificate,
your own birth certificate, tax records and a will might be needed. Good
luck with your search for unclaimed money.
If You Do Not Find Unclaimed Money Using Free Searches
If you did not find money using the free sites, you may wish to consider
a pay to search service such as those advertised on this website. For various
reasons, state and federal databases do not contain all unclaimed
money. The pay to search services, if chosen wisely, can be very
useful.
Links To Federal Databases
If you find a broken link on this page, please report it to: admin@nupn.com