Cash Unclaimed Media Room

The total unclaimed money count across the country is in the multi-billions. According to reliable reports, over 1 million claims were paid out by U.S. states, amounting to $1.2 billion in the last financial year only. The unclaimed money database lists millions of dollars in unclaimed money, property, accounts, and assets from all 50 states, that could belong to you. “Unclaimed property laws have been around since at least the 1940s, but have become much broader and more enforced in the last 15 years,” the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) says on its website, which represents the state-level programs.

Unclaimed property is at an all-time high in the state of Florida. Currently, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida is in possession of almost $1 billion of unclaimed property accounts. These unclaimed property accounts come mostly from dormant accounts in financial institutions, insurance and utility companies, and, securities and trust holdings. In addition to money and securities, unclaimed property includes tangible property such as watches, jewelry, coins, currency, stamps, historical items and other miscellaneous articles from abandoned safe deposit boxes.

State treasuries across the U.S. are searching for the owners of unclaimed funds, but with limited success. It is estimated that almost $40 billion in unclaimed cash and property is lying in various state treasuries. While millions are being added to this pile every month, the majority of U.S. residents are still unaware of the location of the lost funds, along with the process of recovery.

The volume of unclaimed money and property continues to grow big and state treasuries are trying to manage this problem to the best of their capability. Most of the states are reporting a consistent upward slide in the unclaimed property graph. Every state has reported an astounding figure for the unclaimed money. In addition to the state treasuries, some of the bigger banks have also reported large numbers for the unclaimed bank balances. A recent Press Release is about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank customers in Wisconsin is waiting to be claimed.

Lotteries publicize big unclaimed lottery prizes before they are about to expire. “We tell people: ‘Check your tickets! Hey, you never know,’ “New York Lottery spokesman John Charleson says. This applies to both the regular as well as occasional buyers of lotteries. Unclaimed lottery cases are reported very frequently and many times hefty jackpots are unclaimed for a long time. Every year, scores of big jackpots are left unclaimed and the authorities have put all the measures of publicizing any unclaimed lottery – so that the rightful owner picks up the prize money before the expiry date.

The unclaimed money pile is major source of concern for state treasuries along with federal agencies. The exponential growth of the unclaimed money has been unabated and can be seen across all the states. In addition to the larger states, now the smaller states and organizations like banks and insurance companies, are also reporting large volumes of abandoned and unclaimed funds.

Larger states like New York and California are facing the challenge of locating the owners of huge unclaimed money chunks: $10 billion and $6 billion, respectively. In a recent Press Release, about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank is waiting to be claimed by its previous customers.

The volume of unclaimed money continues to rise. This has become a major concern for the state and federal agencies. While every state is reporting huge additions to its unclaimed money vault every month, some of the larger states have reported unbelievable figures of unclaimed money. While California is reporting unclaimed money to the tune of $5.7 Billion, New York’s pile of unclaimed money has swelled up to $9.9 billion.

Apart from the state treasuries, some of the largest banks have also been reporting big numbers of unclaimed bank balances. In a recent Press Release, about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank in Wisconsin is waiting to be claimed.

There are a lot of celebrities who have unclaimed funds, like 90% of common U.S. residents. According to Inside Edition, some of the wealthiest celebrities have unclaimed funds waiting for them: George Clooney ($180 from Warner Brothers), Jennifer Aniston (a $100 Tiffany store credit), Goldie Hawn ($300, which long time love Kurt Russell says will be given to charity) and comedian Dana Carvey ($800). Even the show’s anchor, Deborah Norville, was told she has an unclaimed outstanding sum from 1997 in an account. Carvey tells Inside Edition he’s just going to leave the money where it is. “I don’t want to put it in the stock market because everything I put in there goes ‘whoop’”

The lost money pile in the State of California is growing at a rapid pace and currently ranks highest in terms of unclaimed funds value. In order to mitigate this problem and reduce the deficit, officials in the State treasury are sending more than 9,000 memos every week so that the owners of these funds can take the necessary steps to claim their money.

In spite of the various steps taken to reduce this unclaimed funds pile, the unclaimed checks from various state agencies continue to add to this unaccounted money pool. Like other states, California is also taking various measures utilizing different media to reduce this deficit, but not with a lot of success.

Michigan State Treasury houses billions in missing money. The Michigan Department of Treasury has reported this missing money is generally comprised of dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables left in safe deposit boxes and stock certificates.

By law, these funds and assets are handed over to the state treasury once the owner fails to claim them. The Michigan Department of Treasury acts as the custodian of these funds and assets and returns them to their owners (or the owners’ heirs) when they are rightfully claimed.