Do I have Unclaimed Money?

If you're wondering,"Do I have unclaimed money?" WLBT in Mississippi shows how the state treasurer has helped distribute $5 million in unclaimed funds to its rightful owners in just the last year. It's simple enough to do a last name search on the online database and fill out paperwork with the proper government agencies---in time, you may find your self a little-bit or a lot richer.

Wisconsin Treasurer Helps Veterans Find Unclaimed Money

Channel 5 in Green Bay, Wisconsin tells us how the state treasurer helps military veterans find unclaimed money. So far the program has helped match $76,000 to its rightful owners. At first glance, many people think they're getting scammed. But the treasurer is persistent and anybody can search his website for their own unclaimed assets.

GMA Helps Woman Find Unclaimed Child Support

Here's an interesting story.  ABC's Good Morning America tells of a woman who had two boys with a man and eventually divorced.  He paid child support for a little bit, but then stopped.

She remarried and over the next 17 years raised the boys without the help of her ex-husband.  Well he eventually found work and the state started garnishing his wages... The only problem was that they couldn't find her and she didn't know they were working.  Fortunately, GMA and the state treasurer tracked down the lady and presented her with a $8,000 check for the back-child support.

Nevadans Search For and Find $32 million in Unclaimed Money

According to Las Vegas' local Fox News affilliate during the last fiscal year, tens of thousands of Nevadans contacted the state treasurer, filled out the correct forms and collected over $32 million. This beat the prior record of cash returned by over $7 million.

However a big reason for the increase was because of the failure of Washington State Bank which helped to drive a total of $20 million of money into the state coffers awaiting their proper owners.

As of now, almost 100,000 Nevadans (or ex-residents) have assets just waiting to be claimed from the State Treasurer's office thanks to a quick and simple online search.

Detroit owes crime victim's money

The Detroit Free Press reports that Wayne County courts are sitting on $4 million dollars of restitution that the court collected on behalf of victims of crime. Unfortunately the the county clerks office has done a miserable job of actually looking for the people who are owed the money. Consequently the money just sits in the government's coffers instead of being delivered to the people.

If you were involved in a court case and were awarded restitution payments and are still waiting for a check----You should assume that the government may be too lazy to track you down to mail you the check. I'd suggest that you'd read the FREEP article, and call the county prosecutor and the county clerk to see if the plantiff has made restitution .

Prosecutor Kym Worthy has tried to address the problem for years. She said her office does pass victim information to clerks and is willing to help track down victims, but the clerk's office has stopped asking for help.

Lost in the finger-pointing are the victims who aren't paid -- a grandmother, an autoworker, a student, a disabled adult, business owners, even police and fire departments. For all of them, justice is overdue.

How to find Unclaimed Property in Oklahoma

According to the Oklahoma State Treasurer over $300,000 of lost cash and assets were returned to Oklahoma residents. Staff members conducted hundreds of searches on behalf of the public.

The news release is included below:

Almost $300,000 in Unclaimed Property Found
During 2010 Tulsa State Fair
OKLAHOMA CITY — Cash and stock worth almost $300,000 was found for 464 people attending the 2010 Tulsa State Fair, State Treasurer Scott Meacham announced today. The money was found for fair patrons who visited the treasurer’s “Pot of Gold” booth in the Quik Trip Center.

As administrator of Oklahoma’s unclaimed property program, Meacham has more than $300 million for more than 500,000 people. The $298,304 was found by treasurer’s workers with laptop computers who conducted 4,422 searches at this year’s fair. This was the sixth consecutive year Meacham and his staff operated the
booth at the Tulsa fair.

“Even though the fair is over, Oklahomans can always search for unclaimed property on our web site, www.treasurer.ok.gov,” Meacham said. “Our service is always free. There is never a charge for returning lost money to its rightful owners.”

Last month, Meacham and staff found almost $400,000 for more than 500 visitors to the Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City. Since first setting up the booths at the two major state fairs, more than $4.4 million has been found for more than 10,000 fair goers. The largest amount found at the Tulsa fair this year was more than $88,000 in stock for a woman in Owasso.

Examples of unclaimed property include bank accounts, security deposits, old paychecks, overpayments, royalties, rebates, stock and bonds. The contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes are also included.

The cash and property are turned over to the State Treasurer’s office when the businesses holding them lose track of the owners. Treasurer Meacham’s Unclaimed Property Division then publishes the names, operates an online search engine at www.treasurer.ok.gov and conducts other outreach, such as booths at the two major state fairs, to help find the owners.

Search Indiana Unclaimed

The Indiana Attorney General's office has posted a video of their recent success at the state fair in helping people find missing money and unclaimed assets.

A handful of people managed to get any where from $20 to $1,000 after doing an online search. Some folks found money owed to them from an employer from a summer job ten years ago. Another man found some stock that he had forgotten about and one other lucky fellow discovered $500 of dividends that were never received because he had moved and didn't notify the company of his new address.

Indiana's state treasurer and top-lawyer are keen on getting Hoosiers their money back. Fortunately, you don't need to attend the state fair in Indianapolis, you can search from the comfort of your living room while sitting at your computer.

Michigan wants to escheat funds in Just 3 years to solve budget problems

According to the Detroit News, the state of Michigan is considering to tap unclaimed cash to meet budget shortfalls. Essentially, Michigan's budget deficit could be temporarily helped out by a $200 million (or more) cash infusion from changing the regulations around how the state collects unclaimed funds.

Currently, financial institutions have between 5 and 15 years to turn-over dormant accounts and safe deposit box contents to Michigan's treasurer once they lose contact with the rightful owners. Governor Jennifer Granholm and the State congress want to change the law to shorten the period of time to just 3 years. Should the law pass, the state will get a one time large infusion.

Apparently the lawmakers changed the law to make sure that travelers checks aren't turned over to Lansing until 15 years have elapsed.

In a typical year, the state collects about $115 million and pays out about $70 million. The largest single claim on the state of Michigan's unclaimed assets department was over $1 million from a family of a deceased man who had a bunch of stock that his heirs didn't know about.

Kansas' Unclaimed Property Division Returning Citizens' money

The Kansas Treasurer's Office provides interesting statistics concerning the state's unclaimed property division and its various accomplishments.

• More than $132 million has been returned in over 30 years
• The largest single claim ever returned in Kansas was over $340,000
• 2009 was a record year for the state treasurer; more than 38,000 claims were handled totaling over $11 million... They saw a 20% increase in claims.
• At the Kansas state fair thousands of people found property.
• They are doing a special outreach for military veterans to find their property and are working with local VFW chapters to actively seek out soldiers looking for cash.
• The division only has 8 staff members.
• Currently, they have over $200 million of unclaimed property waiting for the owners, and an additional $20 million is added each and every year.
• Online searches are free at the state treasurer's office.
  

Find Lost Money with Alexis Neely

Alexis Neely of Better TV does a nice job of explaining how people can forget about money they have in various accounts that sit dormant for a long time. How the state government after about three years decides to escheet the assets. How the state then earns interest on that cash and how you can go about searhing the internet to see if you or your family members are missing out on any cash that may be coming your way.

CBS Money Watch on Unclaimed Money

CBS's morning show's money watch has Rebecca Jarvis talking about $33 billion dollars for 117 million accounts waiting to be claimed. That's an average of $280 per account; but many are much larger.

Jarvis actually found Harry 5 different accounts with unclaimed funds. He thinks its residual checks from prior TV appearances. Rebecca says it's easy to claim and you can get the cash in just a couple of weeks. The search is easy, but be sure to check every state you've lived in, search for deceased relatives and search for all names that you've used in your life (like your maiden name, or variations of your first name.)

Unclaimed Funds In Wisconsin

WISN reports that the Wisconsin State Treasurer has recently set up a booth in a local Milwaukee Museum that helps Wisconsinites see if they have any unclaimed money owed to them.

There are more than $82 million unclaimed rebates, insurance policies, and bank accounts that got escheeted to the state. The state doesn't spend the money---However, they do receive the interest on money while they wait for the owners/heirs to come forward and claim the cash.

Illinois Cash Dash -- Find your Unclaimed Money

The Illinois State Treasurer has millions of dollars of waiting to be claimed. Illinois' Cash Dash website provides residents of Chicago, Peoria, and other Illinois cities and towns an easy way to search to find out if you (or your deceased relatives) are owed money.

The Treasurer's website states:

Any for-profit and not-for-profit business entities that conduct business in Illinois are required to report unclaimed property on an annual basis. If you believe your firm is not holding unclaimed property, the state requires you to file a negative report.

All banking and financial organizations, insurance companies (other than life insurance corporations) and governmental entities are required to file November 1 of each year. The report should reflect account activity for the one-year period five years prior to June 30 of the report year.

Examinations are scheduled when the Treasurer’s Office suspects a holder failed to report property as required by law. The examinations are conducted in compliance with Sections 23, 24.5 and 11.5 of the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act and Section 180.90 of the Unclaimed Property Administrative Rules.

North Carolina's Unclaimed Property Search

The North Carolina State Treasurer holds over $700 million worth of unclaimed bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, and insurance proceeds that have been abandoned for 1 - 5 years. By law the state holds onto these assets for safekeeping.

As the state holds onto the funds, the interest income goes towards the North Carolina public university and community college program. In 2008, the unclaimed funds helped over 70,000 students---perhaps that is why the funds have tripled from $255 million to $700 million in 8 short years.

As of 2009 there were 1 million properties in the database and only 8 million North Carolinians! So there is a decent chance you may have some property waiting for you.

Georgia Department of Revenue's Unclaimed Property Program

The Georgia Department of Revenue collects money, property, and assets from holders of unclaimed property and acts as the custodian until the rightful owner(s) can be found and the property returned.

If you have more questions about the unclaimed assets program for the peach state, you can phone 404-968-0490 from 8:00am to 4:30pm on most work-days and get some help over the telephone.

Unclaimed Missing Money in New Jersey

The state of New Jersey has authorized missingmoney.com to facilitate the return of unclaimed assets and unclaimed moneys to their rightful owner.

The search is free, as is the claim filing process.