Unclaimed Property Blog

Are US Unclaimed Money Secrets real? Is there a secret to making more money and enjoying an increased cash flow? It’s hard to know, with all the internet scams out there today. How do you know who to believe? The answer is, YES you can be on your way to increasing your cash flow and enjoying a life without collection calls and overwhelming debt.

The fact is, you could be much richer than you think! You could have US unclaimed money that is rightfully yours, but is being held by a bank or government agency. There are many reasons for this: Forgotten bank accounts, dividend payments, last paychecks, rebate checks, securities, and checks for unused utilities are just a few sources of unclaimed money.

To find unclaimed property you need to know where to look for it. It could either be with the Treasury or other designated department of a state or with a federal agency like the IRS, HUD, FIDC etc. Nearly all states and federal agencies have websites with search options to help people find unclaimed property. While the search procedure may vary depending on the state or agency, in general the process of accessing the databases to see if you can find unclaimed property that belongs to you is fairly simple as long you follow these steps:

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.

Unclaimed assets in America, including unclaimed money assets, are all classified as unclaimed property. The law on what constitutes unclaimed money assets varies from state to state, but when there has been no transaction in regard to the money for an extended period of time (usually 3 years) and efforts to locate the owner of the money have failed, the funds become unclaimed money assets and are handed over to the state under the provision of the United States Unclaimed Property Law. This money is kept in the owners name and remains with the state until the owner, or his heirs, are located. There is normally no time limit for making a claim for unclaimed money assets.

About $ 50 billion in unclaimed property is lying with the federal and state governments and the amount is increasing year by year. The governments makes their best efforts to locate the owners of this money but because of people moving, changing names, marriages and divorces and death, the owners of the property are often not found. This is where experts like Unclaimed Money.com enter the picture.

Unclaimed money can take many forms – forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, unclaimed insurance amounts, refunds, veteran’s benefits, pension dues, inheritances, unused gift certificates, forgotten shares, unclaimed safe deposit boxes, and so on. Over 60% of Americans have owed money in some form or another that they do not know about. Using Unclaimed Money.com makes searching for assets that belong to you easy.

There are several companies in the United States, working as agents, or service providers, who are especially in the business of locating unclaimed funds or properties for making profit. Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, these companies go about procuring information regarding check issuance data from all the related government agencies. The information of unclaimed funds are gathered from the specific check symbols, numbers, and dollar amounts, which remain identified as “check cancelled” on Treasury check cancellation listings.

If you’d like some free money you might want to enter your name in a state unclaimed money search.

You may have an uncashed payroll check, old bank account, interest payment or some other money owed to you.

LA State Treasurer John Kennedy is urging Louisiana residents to check the treasury department’s Web site to see if they’re owed cash.

More than $400 million sits unclaimed. Kennedy’s office says one in six residents has unclaimed money listed with the state! You never know how much money you are missing!

Recently the State of Idaho has been running articles in local papers to inform citizens of the MILLIONS in unclaimed money being held by the state.

These articles are being done amidst pressure from unclaimed money advocates after 4 years of increasing unclaimed money funds in the hands of the state.

Don’t let the state keep your unclaimed money – search and see how much unclaimed money you are owed!

A recent article on “We’ve Got Your Back” column details two people and their unclaimed money experience. Here is the article:

Two readers of “We’ve Got Your Back” recently got some good news and some not-so-good news. They recently received letters that family members had money owed to them. The not-so-good news was that there were some hefty fees that they’d have to pay to get their cash.