There May Be Unclaimed Money Or Property Waiting For You

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Did you know that you might have property or money waiting for you to be claimed? I had heard about it but didn’t really understand what it was. Well, I recently came across the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. They provide a list of state department sites where you can find your state and check for unclaimed property. They also provide a link to MissingMoney.com which is a database of state unclaimed property records. ( I suggest you check both!).

“There’s no way any of that money is mine” you may be saying. You’d be surprised! Here is a list of accounts that may be unclaimed (from the NYS Office of the State Comptroller):

Savings Accounts
Checking Accounts
Uncashed Checks
Telephone/Utility Deposits
Rental Security Deposits
Wages
Insurance Benefits/Policies
Safe Deposit Box Contents
Mortgage Insurance Refunds
Stocks and Dividends
Mutual Funds
Certificates of Deposit
Trust Funds
Estate Proceed

Have you moved, opened an account and forgot about it, change utility providers and forget about the deposit, forget to cash a dividend check? All of these are reasons money can go unclaimed. State laws require unclaimed funds to be turned over to the state after a set period of time (varies by state). This money sits with the state waiting to be claimed.

I was skeptical so I tried it out. Ends up I have unclaimed funds for dividends I never cashed. Long ago my Grandmother bought us all a share of stock in our name. The dividend checks were never that big so I probably misplaced or lost it. I’ve since moved a number of times so the checks never caught up with me. The NYS site provides a form that needs to be notarized and sent back to claim the money. Check your state for exact details on claiming property.

So what are you waiting for? Go check to see if there’s money waiting out there for you!

photo credit: Gaetan Lee