Good Morning America Shares Unclaimed Money Stories
Unclaimed money searches have been gaining momentum in the last couple of years and there has been a flood of success stories which are not only inspirational, but also great case studies related to the unclaimed money scenario in the U.S. A few of these unclaimed money stories are worth sharing.
One of the oldest people to collect unclaimed money is Margaret Martin. At 103-years old, Margaret Martin is the 2nd oldest American recipient of state unclaimed funds. Her unclaimed funds came from an uncollected tax refund from several years back. “Well, I’m glad they cleaned out the old nest.” says the Jackson matriarch. State Treasurer, Tate Reeves, delivered her missing money personally and asked if she knew she had Mississippi unclaimed money in her name. “No it was an absolute surprise and I’m delighted to know it.” was her reply.
In another very remarkable story, the Benedictine monks at Saint Leo Abbey were rewarded with financial bounty from some much unexpected sources. The Benedictine monks at Saint Leo Abbey got $19,656.62, which was waiting to be claimed. The money actually came from the state, and it was unclaimed proceeds from the acquisition of a company in which the abbey owned shares.
The abbey is just one of about 410 recipients of unclaimed property in Pasco in the last fiscal year. The state’s Department of Banking and Finance returned more than $73-million in old bank account balances, stock dividends, uncashed paychecks and never-returned security deposits. And the state still is holding about $800-million of it.
The State Treasury has 400,000 new names of people and businesses owed Massachusetts unclaimed money, worth $13 million. Superstar Chef Ming Tsai, the New Kids on The Block (yes, the boy band) and Red Sox Star Norman Garciaparra, are on the list of people owed unclaimed property in Massachusetts!
For Helene Campton, it was beyond recall as far as the unclaimed money was concerned. She had no idea that she was entitled to receive $165.83 from 20 years ago when she was a Circus-Circus cocktail waitress. Local baccarat dealer Tony Villareal has been reading the column many years. It finally paid off in the form of a $142 check he’s owed from 2006.
