Unclaimed Property Blog

The exact quantum of unclaimed money being held by the states is difficult to establish but the best estimates are the there is over $10 billion in unclaimed state money. These same estimates say that over 26 million Americans have unclaimed state money or property due to them which they have no idea about. That’s a large chunk of the population and one of those people could be you. You don’t have to be sure that money is due to you. Even if you think there is a chance there is some unclaimed state money that is rightfully yours, the resources are there to help you find it.

In the United States of America, bank accounts are deemed dormant or unclaimed if there has been no activity for an extended period of time and if contact with the account holder has been lost. The period of dormancy necessary for an account to be considered unclaimed varies from state to state but is customarily around 3 years.

Accounts also become unclaimed when financial institution and banks fail (this happens all too frequently nowadays) and account holders think they have lost all their money. This is not always true. A financial institution that is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has insured all its account holders against loss of funds in case the bank closes down. Basically funds are insured up to $100,000.