New Jersey Reaches Out to Unclaimed Money Owners
More that 1.3 million residents of New Jersey have unclaimed money which is still waiting to be claimed. A WCBS news report says 200,000 Garden State dwellers have NJ unclaimed money from property tax refunds worth a whopping $200 million. This is quite startling considering the fact that the New Jersey residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the country, as much as twice the amount paid by residents in the other states.
The government is trying all the ways in order to unite the owners of the lost funds with their unclaimed money. It is trying to reach out to the New Jersey unclaimed money owners through every available media outlet and through various campaigns which are run through the print media, state sponsored fair and through the electronic media.
Aside from tax rebates, New Jersey unclaimed money comes from comes from numerous other sources like forgotten bank accounts, uncashed salary checks, insurance benefits, stocks and bonds that have been languishing, unused gift checks, and even items from abandoned safe deposit boxes. New Jersey is also home to a lot of foreign and immigrant workers. This diverse workforce usually work on numerous jobs and have had several addresses and they tend to lose track of mailed checks or notices from banks and financial institutions.
Businesses and companies that haven’t located the owners of lost money and property after a ‘dormancy period’ have to hand the the unclaimed money over to the State for ‘safekeeping’ as stipulated in the National Unclaimed Property Law. The citizens’ lost money is kept in the State Treasury until the rightful owners come around to file a claim. The State also holds outreach programs to try to let people know about New Jersey unclaimed funds. Last year, the NJ State Treasury unclaimed property advertising campaign reunited some 36,000 residents with $85 million of their missing money.
Considering the economic slump the country is passing through, the unclaimed funds worth more than $40 billion lying in states is a big drain on the government, considering the fact that they have to be maintained and safe guarded unless the owners of these funds are found. Fact is, not enough people are checking for unclaimed funds because most Americans aren’t even aware they might have state unclaimed property in their name.
