Cash Unclaimed Media Room

Lotteries publicize big unclaimed lottery prizes before they are about to expire. “We tell people: ‘Check your tickets! Hey, you never know,’ “New York Lottery spokesman John Charleson says. This applies to both the regular as well as occasional buyers of lotteries. Unclaimed lottery cases are reported very frequently and many times hefty jackpots are unclaimed for a long time. Every year, scores of big jackpots are left unclaimed and the authorities have put all the measures of publicizing any unclaimed lottery – so that the rightful owner picks up the prize money before the expiry date.

The unclaimed money pile is major source of concern for state treasuries along with federal agencies. The exponential growth of the unclaimed money has been unabated and can be seen across all the states. In addition to the larger states, now the smaller states and organizations like banks and insurance companies, are also reporting large volumes of abandoned and unclaimed funds.

Larger states like New York and California are facing the challenge of locating the owners of huge unclaimed money chunks: $10 billion and $6 billion, respectively. In a recent Press Release, about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank is waiting to be claimed by its previous customers.

The volume of unclaimed money continues to rise. This has become a major concern for the state and federal agencies. While every state is reporting huge additions to its unclaimed money vault every month, some of the larger states have reported unbelievable figures of unclaimed money. While California is reporting unclaimed money to the tune of $5.7 Billion, New York’s pile of unclaimed money has swelled up to $9.9 billion.

Apart from the state treasuries, some of the largest banks have also been reporting big numbers of unclaimed bank balances. In a recent Press Release, about half a million dollars in unclaimed money from former Washington Mutual Bank in Wisconsin is waiting to be claimed.

There are a lot of celebrities who have unclaimed funds, like 90% of common U.S. residents. According to Inside Edition, some of the wealthiest celebrities have unclaimed funds waiting for them: George Clooney ($180 from Warner Brothers), Jennifer Aniston (a $100 Tiffany store credit), Goldie Hawn ($300, which long time love Kurt Russell says will be given to charity) and comedian Dana Carvey ($800). Even the show’s anchor, Deborah Norville, was told she has an unclaimed outstanding sum from 1997 in an account. Carvey tells Inside Edition he’s just going to leave the money where it is. “I don’t want to put it in the stock market because everything I put in there goes ‘whoop’”

The lost money pile in the State of California is growing at a rapid pace and currently ranks highest in terms of unclaimed funds value. In order to mitigate this problem and reduce the deficit, officials in the State treasury are sending more than 9,000 memos every week so that the owners of these funds can take the necessary steps to claim their money.

In spite of the various steps taken to reduce this unclaimed funds pile, the unclaimed checks from various state agencies continue to add to this unaccounted money pool. Like other states, California is also taking various measures utilizing different media to reduce this deficit, but not with a lot of success.

Michigan State Treasury houses billions in missing money. The Michigan Department of Treasury has reported this missing money is generally comprised of dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables left in safe deposit boxes and stock certificates.

By law, these funds and assets are handed over to the state treasury once the owner fails to claim them. The Michigan Department of Treasury acts as the custodian of these funds and assets and returns them to their owners (or the owners’ heirs) when they are rightfully claimed.

Unclaimed Treasury Money is still lying with the U.S. treasury in the absence of any rightful owners claiming these lost monies. While millions of U.S. residents (around 28 million) are still relying on food stamps to survive, the rightful owners of this treasury money are still elusive.

The combined value of unclaimed money in the 50 states is over $30 billion and this is being held in the various State Treasury Department. States like New York and California have the largest volumes of unclaimed money.

Owners of lost money are being instensely searched for by the U.S. treasury. Currently, the U.S. treasury is home to billions of dollars in unclaimed bonds, treasury bills, notes, war bonds and accrued interests. Online promotion campaigns, digital awareness program, print media campaigns to radio campaigns – Every possible advertising mechanism, has been put in place by the State treasury to reunite the owners of the lost money with their unclaimed cash and interests.

State departments of unclaimed money across the U.S. is storing more than $40 billion in unclaimed cash and property. This roughly translates to more than 30 million Americans who have missing money lying somewhere in their state treasuries. While billions are added to this pool of unclaimed money every year, many of the U.S. residents are still unaware of the process of recovery.

The bigger states, like California, Texas and New York, are getting richer every year because of the growing volume of unclaimed money. These state-held unclaimed funds are in the form of abandoned bank accounts, unclaimed savings and checking accounts, child support payments, uncashed dividends, stocks, customer deposits or overpayments, certificates of deposit, credit balances, refunds, matured life insurance policies, uncashed death benefit checks, and the contents of safety deposit boxes.

Billions of dollars in missing money is housed in the state treasury of Wisconsin, according to the State treasurer of Wisconsin. This property is comprised of unclaimed savings and checking accounts, child support payments, uncashed dividends, stocks, customer deposits or overpayments, certificates of deposit, credit balances, refunds, matured life insurance policies, uncashed death benefit checks, and the contents of safety deposit boxes. One reliable place to search for unclaimed property in Wisconsin is at Wisconsin Unclaimed Property Online Search.