Unclaimed Property Blog

The mound of unclaimed cash is far from depleated as personal memos, outreach programs and other methods of reaching every possible American is proving less effective. More forgotten cash is being recovered everyday than what is returned to the owners after much effort. In order to intensify the mission, various states in the U.S. are now listing unclaimed money in newspapers.

Newspapers have a very wide reach and are read by almost every American. If the campaign to return the unclaimed money rides on the intense penetration of the newspapers, then the states hope that it will result in increased awareness about the issue. Also, newspapers are helpful in reaching to the population staying in remote locations and not having internet and other publicity facilities.

If you have some unclaimed or “missing money’’ while you were a resident of Wisconsin, you are not alone. According to the state treasurer of Wisconsin, the state is holding almost $400 million of unclaimed money and the state authorities are trying their best to reunite this money with their rightful owners. Apart from the cash, the state treasury is also holding tangible properties, like jewelry and coins.

Unclaimed money is still on the rise and most U.S. States are making it a priority to return th money to its citizens. Colorado, the central state of America, is reaching out to payback its citizens through various methods.

In its efforts to return the unclaimed cash to the Coloradans, State Treasurer Cary Kennedy kicked off the 2010 Great Colorado Payback on April 16, 2010. She happily announced through a press release that the Great Colorado Payback recently paid claims totaling more than $500,000 to a Fort Collins resident. It was one of the twenty claims made during the past fiscal year, which ranged between $40,000 and $1 million.

Unclaimed property is still on the rise in the U.S. in spite of the states’ relentless efforts to return the unclaimed property to its rightful owners. Unclaimed property in the U.S. is reaching unprecedented proportions. A total of over $32 billion is currently being safeguarded by state treasurers and other agencies for 117 million accounts.

To get rid of this burden and help people in finding the forgotten cash or property that is legally theirs, every U.S. state, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have unclaimed property programs that actively find owners of lost and forgotten assets. Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada have also initiated such programs.

Inactive bank accounts are one of the major contributors to the unclaimed cash with which U.S. state treasury is overflowing. States neither can use this huge unclaimed cash nor can dispose it off. States can only wait for the rightful owners of the unclaimed cash to come forward, stake claim and take away what is theirs.

Bank accounts and banking activities are contributing to the rising mound of unclaimed property. Savings accounts that are not properly closed or left inactive are turning out to be the major cause of concern. Banks in the U.S. are holding many accounts that are dormant. The number of checks that are not redeemed and forgotten are moreso a concern for the banks.

Most of the U.S. states are eyeing the unclaimed money lying in their coffers to fix their budget deficits. States are always on the lookout for the sources of additional revenue generation, and unclaimed property is quickly becoming one of the few sources of filling the void in the budget.

The center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the combined state budget deficit over the next two and a half years is likely to be about $350 billion. This will account for about 20% of the state budget.

Lost escrow amounts are another main contribution to the large amount of unclaimed money lying with the state treasure. Escrow amounts are the cash deposited with a third party during any deed between the two parties. Securing the amount separately assures both the parties involved in the agreement that the other party will not default either on the payment or the project. The escrow amount remains unpaid till all the conditions of the contract between the parties are met or it is paid partially after completion of every step of the project.

Forgotten or lost utility deposits are one of the major contributors to the billions of unclaimed cash and property lying in U.S. state coffers. While moving places and changing residences from one state to another, most of the citizens neglect to follow proper procedure to get back the utility deposits. These small amounts have burdened U.S. states with huge unclaimed cash.

Why are Utility Deposits Required?

Utility deposits acts as a security to the agencies providing gas, electric or water supply to the citizens. Incase citizens default on paying the bills, these security deposits act as a recovery amount for the agencies. These also act as a cover up cost incase the user damages the equipment or installations.

Lost money, also known as unclaimed cash or unclaimed money, is becoming a cause of concern for many American states. The states are trying their best to help citizens in locating lost money.

Most of the state governments are sitting over billions of unclaimed cash and are willing to return it to the owners. Every U.S. state, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Quebec and British Columbia have unclaimed property programs that are dedicated to finding owners of lost and forgotten assets.

Claim back any unclaimed property in California before the state uses it to pay off the deficit! The state of California is the eighth-largest economy in the world; however, for the last couple of years it is facing a major issue of budget deficit. And to cover up this deficit, the California state government is pondering upon utilizing the huge unclaimed cash and property amount.

The state treasurer of California is currently sitting on over more than $5.7 billion in the form of unclaimed property belonging to approximately 11.6 million individuals and organizations. The state has acquired this huge chunk from over $32 billion unclaimed cash and property held by the U.S.