5% of Minnesotans Have over $100 of unclaimed money

Page Title - No value Fox has learned that 5% of Minnesotans are owed over $100. And they hit the streets try to find people... And sure enough the 8th person they asked (a local waitress) found out that she had some cash owed to her from an old employer.

Good Morning America Helps Missouri Return $6 million of Unclaimed Money

Good Morning America has been taking great strides in returning unclaimed money into it rightful hands and they found a whopper of a claim.
The Missouri State Treasurer has over $600 million of unclaimed property and one lady actually set the record by getting $6.1 million. The anonymous Kansas City woman owes her windfall to a long lost relative who invested in an obscure stock that just went up and up. It's like winning a lottery you didn't know even existed.
The national and local media organizations have been doing a good job alerting the public to the fact that the states have billions of dollars of missing money and you just need to do simple and free internet searches to see if you (or your dead relatives) have any money that is just waiting in the state's coffers waiting to be claimed. It can be bank accounts, brokerage accounts, Utility deposits or even savings bonds. People like Clark Howard and Oprah Winfrey have also worked to highlight this issue and help people contact their state treasurer and investigate their "cash dash" websites to see if they can get rich quick.

Find missing money in Wisconsin

The TV crew in Wausau, Wisconsin lays out a plan on how folks in the Badger State have lots of cash and assets waiting for them---And they talk about how you can claim your funds... Wisconsin unclaimed property is the website that the WI treasurer has set up to list assets---Her grandmother who died in 2007 was on the list, so her Dad went to the site and got $632 in just about 8 weeks... So she started searching for her sister and brother-in-law...

The lesson is if you don't find your name---keep searching for the names of your family members, parents, cousins and friends.

Illinois Cash Dash has over $1.5 billion

Illinois State Treasurer Rutherford says that the people in the land of Lincoln are owed over $1.5 billion in unclaimed assets.

Citizens may have forgotten about bank accounts, utility deposits or stock certificates that are eventually turned over to the state if their accounts stay idle for too long. Additionally, if family members pass away without a good accounting of their assets and money, valuables, cash and life insurance policies as well as safe deposit boxes get turned over to the State of Illinois and is just sitting there waiting for the heirs to contact Rutherford's office to file the correct paperwork and to be issued their checks for the missing money.

If you live in Chicago or else where in IL you can search for unclaimed money at the treasurer's website.

Indiana's Unclaimed Asset Pool Overflows with New Deposits

Recently the state of Indiana offered an amnesty program to financial institutions to turn over assets related to inactive accounts. The Hoosier State Attorney General Greg Zoeller said that in 2010 companies could turn over cash to the state without any penalty if it was being transferred late. This resulted in almost 400,000 accounts being deposited into the treasury's coffers.

These new assets were over $55 in value, with most claims worth just under $100. The fund include bank deposits, stocks, bonds and other missing assets.

The state holds onto the money for up to 25 years---after which time the state claims the money to pay for government expenses.

Wisconsin Treasurer Sells Unclaimed Assets on Ebay

Every so often, the Wisconsin state treasurer sells of unclaimed assets (Frequently from safe deposit boxes) on eBay. In fact, the state's January Auction is expected to have plenty of coins (including silver dollars, quarters and dimes), jewelry, silverware, and baseball cards.

If you're interested in placing a bid on some abandoned Wisconsin treasure, you should definitely check out their ebay website. Auctions don't happen all the time, but when they do you might be able to find some deals.

And what ends up happening is that the state collects money via paypal, and should the family or its heirs end up wanting to claim the contents, they will receive the money instead. Moral of the story---know where you have safe deposit boxes and know if your parents have any such assets and valuables hanging out unbeknown to you.

One in Four Texans have Unclaimed Property

According to the Texas State Controller, one in four Texans have unclaimed assets waiting to be claimed at the state.

Already in 2010, the state has returned over $160 million to residents who have done an easy online websearch for their assets.


According to the treasurer:

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is responsible for administering the Texas Unclaimed Property Program. Property is turned over to the Comptroller's office annually when the owner's whereabouts are unknown and the property has been inactive on the books of the reporting company after the appropriate abandonment period has expired.

Unclaimed Property Statutes

Title 6 of the Texas Property Code governs the State of Texas Unclaimed Property Program. To view the statutes, go to the Texas Legislature Online Web site and select Property Code and the appropriate chapter.

Chapters 72 through 75 apply to the reporting, delivery and claims process for abandoned property. Chapter 76 applies only to unclaimed property held and reported by Texas counties, municipalities and independent school districts.

Is there a time limit for claiming my property?

No, the Comptroller's office acts only as custodian for the missing owners, holding the property in trust until it is claimed. Texas never takes legal ownership of the property, so there is no time limit for filing a claim.

California has over $6 billion of unclaimed property

According to the Sacramento Bee Californians have over six billion dollars of unclaimed property and assets waiting to be claimed; including old paychecks, insurance checks and stock dividends.

Recently, banks had to submit their annual report of names and assets of people who have had dormant accounts at their institutions for the past 3 years (after which the funds escheat to the state treasurers office).

Fortunately, it's easy to do an online search for your missing assets.

What sites help me search for lost assets?

Where can I find web sites to help find lost assets, this video clip lets you know how you can find your state treasurer's "treasure hunt" site; or use other government websites to find unclaimed pensions or lost stock certificates.

The old-days of mailing off letters to multiple states are over... Now everyone can search for missing money owed to them, their family or their dead relatives very easily from a host of free websites. Some experts even estimate that 1 in 8 Americans have cash that's owed to them and that is currently sitting in government bank accounts waiting to be claimed.

Unclaimed Property in North Carolina

NC Cash is the North Carolina Treasurer's website for citizens of the tar-heel state to search for unclaimed assets.

Here's some information about how the state's program workss.

NC Cash Unclaimed Property Program The North Carolina Department of State Treasurer holds nearly $600 million in unclaimed property. With one million properties in the database and eight million North Carolinians, there is a one in eight chance that a North Carolina citizen has a claim. In the past year, over $39 million in unclaimed property has been returned.

• Unclaimed property consists of bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds, and contents of safe deposit boxes that typically have been abandoned for one to five years.
What is unclaimed property?
• Funds become unclaimed because the holder loses track of the owner perhaps due to an incorrect address or misinformation in their claim such as reversing the numbers in their zip code.
• According to the State Constitution, the interest earnings on the fund go to needy and worthy North Carolina public university and community college students.

How can you find your own NC Cash?
www.nccash.com to search the online database of unclaimed property.

• You can print a claim form from www.nccash.com or call (919) 508-1000 to request a claim form.
• Sign the claim form and if the amount is greater than $50, you must have your signature notarized. Attach the requested proof of ownership and mail it to the Unclaimed Property address on the bottom of the claim form.
• The Department of State Treasurer also provides a staffed booth at conferences, fairs and meetings.
• Approximately $2.5 million is typically distributed per month to the rightful owners.
NC Cash Facts
• The interest earned on the funds goes to the State Educational Assistance Authority (SEAA) in the form of grants, loans and scholarships to North Carolina college students attending public universities and community colleges.
• In 2009, the unclaimed property program assisted over 88,000 students.

New York's Office of Unclaimed Funds is sitting on $10.5 billion

According to New York's state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli the empire state is currently sitting on over $10 billion of unclaimed assets waiting to be claimed. More than 25 million accounts have been turned over to the state. During the last fiscal year, over $650 million was turned over and only $227 million was returned to 360,000 New Yorkers.

things like inactive bank or investment accounts. Some of this money could be yours. See how easy it is to search for lost money by watching this tutorial. And it's important to note that while there is NO fee to claim your money; some "finder firms" are legally allowed to collect up to 15% of the funds if you agree to let them help you find your long lost cash.



Some other statistics concerning the assets that were returned to people are that 40% of all returns were less than $50 and 60% of funds returned were for less than $100. But many things worth thousands of dollars were also returned. In fact the largest single claim ever paid was $4 million.

Missouri's Unclaimed Assets Email List

The State of Missouri's treasurer Clint Zweifel recently became the second leader in the country to set up a process to email people whenever their name gets on the state's unclaimed assets list.

Residents must opt-in to be placed on the list by filling out their information here. And then in the coming years, if any bank account, utility account, brokerage fund etc... gets escheated to the state of Missouri, the treasurers office will email you and tell you how to claim it.

Since this list will be around for years, you should use an email address that will follow you around for years (such as a gmail or yahoo.com address) and probably not use a work email address that you my stop using if you lose your job or decide to retire.

According to St. Louis Today , the state is holding onto over $180 million of unclaimed funds and returned over $30 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010---This included one lucky guy who received a check for over $1 million!

Detroit News story on unclaimed cash

Today the Detroit News did a story on the State of Michigan's web of unclaimed cash. According to the author Brian O'Connor:

But you could be leaving plenty of other money lying around, too. According to the IRS, nearly 1.4 million people missed out on refunds totaling more than $1.3 billion from the 2006 tax year. That included 42,800 Michiganians who left nearly $41 million in the U.S. Treasury, an average of $618 apiece. The window on all that money closed on April 15, meaning they're out of luck.

Besides unclaimed refunds, the IRS also got 107,831 refund checks totaling $123.5 million returned last year from taxpayers who filed their 2008 returns but, in most cases, moved or provided illegible mailing addresses. Or maybe they didn't need the money but just looooovefilling out tax forms.

Alabama Money Quest --- Search for your Unclaimed Assets

Money Quest Alabama lets people who have lived in Alabama (or have had family members live in the state), do a free database search to see if the state treasurer has any unclaimed assets that are waiting to be returned. According to the website:

Each year, millions of dollars are turned over to the Alabama Treasurer's Office by financial institutions and businesses that lose contact with the owners. These assets may be in the form of cash, stocks, bonds, insurance benefits and even valuables from safe deposit box contents. By law, once these funds have become abandoned or unclaimed, they are turned over to the state. The Alabama Treasury serves as custodian of these assets and makes every effort to return them to the rightful owner or their heirs.

This site allows you to search the Alabama unclaimed property database to determine if the state may be holding assets that belong to you, your family, or your business. The database is updated regularly to include new names reported and to remove those owners who have successfully completed the claims process. From this site, you may also print claim forms and track the progress of your submitted claims.

Claims submitted for assets held by the State of Alabama are processed by the State Treasurer's Office. There is NEVER a charge to search the database, file and track a claim, or receive your assets!

Currently, the State of Alabama is holding more than $380 million that is available for claim. You are encouraged to visit the site often and tell others you know about the site as well. After all. . .it's FREE!

Florida's Unclaimed Asset Auction--This month

Channel #2 in Orlando did a nice story on The State of Florida's Unclaimed Assets auction that is taking place in September.

The state is auctioning off lots of property--including a gold bar from a ship wreck, a large $100,000 diamond ring and many other items. The state then sits on the cash until the owners (or their heirs or estates) contacts the Treasurer's office, fills out the paper work and gets issued the cash-value that was raised during the bidding.

You can do easy online searches to see if FL or any other state holds money, jewelery or other assets that belong to you.

Tennessee's state treasurer explains how to find unclaimed money in the Volunteer State

Tennessee's state treasurer David H. Lillard provides an explaination about how the state's unclaimed assets department works.

"Welcome to the Tennessee property department. The TN unclaimed property department collects tangible and intangible property; stocks and bonds and money and credits for all the good people of Tennessee. It is a consumer protection law function that is intended to keep and preserve the money for the person's use. And we make an attempt to locate the person who is the correct owner of the property. And we catalog it and enter it in the website; and we attempt to locate those people. It never ceases to be the claimant's property. Under Tennessee law it is always their property and it's our job to make available to them and let them claim it in the future or for it to be there for their heirs or their successors."

How do I locate unclaimed money?

Many people who have been watching their local news, may have recently seen stories about how the government holds onto assets, when financial institutions are unable to find their rightful owner. Fortunately, there are many ways to discover if you have some cash that is waiting for you to properly claim it.

Some companies and firms may try to conduct the search for you in exchange for a percentage of the loot. However, you don't need to pay them; you can do it yourself. (With that said, if you are short on time, or if filling out forms and dealing with government bureaucracies annoys you, it may be worth your while to hire one of these money finding firms). The internet allows you to easily search the government's coffers to see if you, your family or your deceased relatives have assets that are ready to be turned over to you.

To find the government unclaimed property list, you need to look under every state (county) where you have lived or have opened banking relationships, utility accounts or brokerage accounts. Odds are pretty good that the state comptroller of unclaimed funds would be able to help you locate your lostmoney ; And many of the largest states (California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois) have hundreds of millions of dollars waiting to be claimed.

What's kind of neat is that you can go to youtube or watch some videos on this website of people who were down on their luck; logged onto their state's website to look for assets and other financial instruments that have been growing and compounding for years.

Tiki Barber Interviews the IL treasurer

Alexi Giannoulius, The State Treasurer of IL talks with Tiki Barber (of NBC) about his job, and how the state returns unclaimed money and unclaimed assets to the rightful owners.

Find Unclaimed Money in California

The California State Controller John Chiang recently has announced that the state is in possession of $5.7 billion of assets from over 11.6 million individuals and organizations that has gone unclaimed for years.

Per state law, California businesses must turn-over to the state controller assets once there have been no contact with the rightful owner for over 3 years---In some cases, the owner died and the heirs have no idea about the asset---So you should also search under the names of deceased loved ones.

The most common types of Unclaimed Property in California are:

• Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
• Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
• Uncashed cashier's checks or money orders
• Certificates of deposit
• Matured or terminated insurance policies
• Estates
• Mineral interests and royalty payments, trust funds, and escrow accounts.

Georgia's Cash Dash to Find Missing Money

Georgia's Unclaimed Funds department collects unclaimed cash, wages, money orders, safety deposit boxes and other assets. If a firm can't locate you to return your assets, eventually it may end up in the state of Georgia.

If you want to collect what is rightfully yours, the state treasurer makes it easy for you to do an online search for your unclaimed assets.

good luck...