Unclaimed Property Blog

The words “lost property” would generally make one frantic or nervous. However, one of the most reassuring facts about unclaimed and lost property is that they are safe and secure with the state and federal agencies. Apart from the robust and far-reaching reclaim programs initiated by federal government, state treasuries have also taken very concrete and practical steps to ensure that U.S. residents do not have face roadblocks when looking for their lost funds. Most of the owners of lost funds are now realizing that the process of reclaim is much easier than they anticipated.

Unclaimed money has been a subject generating more and more awareness among the state governments. It needs a high level of concerted action between the government agencies and the citizens to minimize the flow of unclaimed money. Can we really prevent it? It is a statistical fact that almost 85% of U.S. residents have left behind cash and property at some point and failed to claim it back.

The unclaimed money count continues to climb relentlessly in spite of all the great efforts of state and federal agencies. A whooping $40 billion is lying in the different state treasuries around the country and that translates to roughly 117 million accounts which are still untraced. These unclaimed money pools are lying in the various state treasuries.

As part of the reclaim drive, federal and state governments are assisting people in finding the forgotten cash or property that is legally theirs. In reality, every U.S. state, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands have unclaimed property programs that actively find owners of lost and forgotten assets.

Most of the State treasuries are at a loss as to how to handle the growing pile of unclaimed funds. This surplus of unclaimed money in the state treasuries is getting bigger with each passing day. Major states like California and New York have reported huge amounts of unclaimed funds: $5.7 Billion and $9.9 billion respectively. Although this is great news for states in this times of economic slump, the resources and logistics required to handle the increasing surplus is also required.

With millions in unclaimed money being registered every day in the country, owners of these funds, along with the caretakers of unclaimed money, are equally at loss. These huge piles of unclaimed monies are lying somewhere in the state treasuries. Despite the federal and state agencies efforts to unite the owners of these unclaimed funds with their rightful money, the progress has been slow.

State governments are having a huge reserve of unclaimed public money, despite the efforts to bolster its economy in this era of one of the largest economic slump. Most of the states have expressed their conerns with this influx of unclaimed funds into their treasuries. The ratio of incoming funds to the funds which are being claimed is still very high. Millions of dollars of unaccounted money is held in state treasuries with no possible outlet in sight.

At the moment, more than $40 billion dollars of unclaimed money and assets are waiting to be returned to their rightful owners. Statistically, more than 30 million American are missing out on their hard earned money which is still lying with the state treasuries.

It’s not a small amount; almost $35 billion of unclaimed cash is waiting to be claimed by American citizens across various states. While the influx of unclaimed money is unabated, the actual reimbursement of this unaccounted money is not taking place at a satisfactory pace. The turnover over of unclaimed cash is hindered by so many factors, mainly the lack of awareness in the state residents. There is widespread concern among the decision makers in the treasury departments of the various states regarding the unclaimed pile of money which is growing rapidly on a daily basis.

The large amount of unclaimed money is turing out to be a logistic nightmare for the states: trying to manage and store increasing pile of unclaimed money, while on the one hand they are fighting the economic slowdown with all their might.

It is estimated that at any point of time, State governments are storing more than $40 billion dollars in unclaimed money and assets. It can be said that about 30 million Americans are believed to have unclaimed money lying somewhere in the state coffers. Some of the most pertinent questions that are frequently asked are:

Unclaimed money has been forgotten but not lost; its lying somewhere in the coffers of the state government waiting to be claimed. Most of the state governments have taken concrete steps to ensure that their citizens are not deprived of the hard earned money which belongs rightfully to them.

The steps taken by the U.S. Government consist of:

Most of us think that claiming lost property is not for the majority. The reality betrays the common notion about the process of claim. Almost 80% of us have left behind cash and property at some point and failed to claim it. As the time goes by, the desire to claim our lost property fades and slowly it goes down in our list of priorities. But, who doesn’t need their hard earned cash or property?