Unclaimed Property Blog

Here’s a great site that has reviews, articles and advice about all the paid online survey websites out there. It seems to be the latest craze to hit the Internet – everyone wants to get paid big money filling out surveys. I think this is possible to find these paid surveys, but I don’t really know how much money you can make.

Some sites claim you can make $250 per hour. I’m a little skeptical about that, but don’t see why you couldn’t make some extra cash on the side with it.

On Deborah’s Proposal Writing Blog she talks about how to look for a government grant and get free money. This is a legitimate way to get money for all sorts of things.

In her post she says:

“I get a lot of e-mail from individuals who are looking for grants (or what many people call “free money”). Most of the individual grants that are given by foundations are for scholarships and educational support, research and the arts; however, there are some individual grants that don’t fall into these categories.

Imagine losing $2,000 for three years and not knowing it was gone.

That’s what a recent article published in the Daily Journal Online talks about. In the example above it was a city government who had lost $2000 and didn’t even know it. The lost money was reported to the Indiana state treasurer and there it sat for 3 years. This is not that uncommon. Many people have lost money being held by a state, local or Federal agency and they don’t even know it!

Who knows – you could be owed money and you don’t even know it.

Missing Money is a website sponsored by the National Unclaimed Property Administrators and some states. However, it appears the the database is missing about 22 of the states,. Further it appears that this site doesn’t have any local or Federal government money databases.

Many people try this site since it is no cost, but miss out on billions of dollars in unclaimed money that isn’t listed there.

That’s why Cash Unclaimed Money Search was created. We combine over 54 different unclaimed money sources into one big searchable database so it is easy for you to find out if you are owed any found money.

Two months ago, the county of San Diego offered more than $1 million in refunds to hotel and motel guests who were overtaxed for their rooms. The actual amount of overcharging is over $4 million dollars, but the time limits are up on claiming some of those funds and the county is now spending much of the money.

Now, the county is attempting to return nearly $2.4 million dollars in unclaimed funds that resulted from people overpaying their property taxes.

Free money – do you want it? You would think that most people would jump at the chance. However, Three business school professors have discovered that when it comes to work most people are leaving hundreds or thousands of free dollars left on the table.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that in their study, called: “$100 Bills on the Sidewalk: Suboptimal Savings in 401(k) Plans.”, most people are not taking advantage of investment fund matching programs. This is where the employer will match any contribution you make to an investment account like a 401K retirement account.

Edgecombe County Clerk of Superior Court Carol Allen White said her office is trying to find the rightful owners of about $19,503 in unclaimed property, money and funds being held by her office.

“If satisfactory proof of claim is not presented by Oct. 1, the law requires us to submit the money to the N.C. Treasurer’s office. After we send the money to the state treasurer’s office, the rightful owners will have to contact Raleigh to get their money back.”

Minnesota is trying to return over $230 Million dollars to it’s rightful owners. The Star Tribune reporter Kara McGuire wrote that her husband recently recovered $124

Minnesota’s unclaimed property law mandates that companies turn assets over to the state if they can’t locate the rightful owner within three years. There are many other sources of unclaimed money, property and funds. It can be from lost tax refunds, insurance settlements, old bank accounts and safe deposit boxes.

The state unclaimed money websites and all of the government sponsored sites related to found money are missing 90% of the lost money records and can often make you miss out on funds that you should have claimed. They simply don’t contain most of the records. It would take you 50+ hours to search all the government sites one by one. No matter what your state tells you, there is no government site that searches all the lost money databases.

This story by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that 54,639 people and companies in Broward County Florida and 32,937 in Palm Beach County Florida who have money or valuables at the state’s Unclaimed Property agency. These lost funds and unclaimed property come from old bank accounts, insurance policies, uncashed checks, business accounts, safe deposit boxes and other sources. Every state and some Federal agencies are holding unclaimed property. In fact, it is said that there is over $30 billion dollars in unclaimed property listed by these agencies. Most people don’t even know they are owed the money.