Unclaimed Property Blog

“Lost cash? Me? ... Never!” may be your reaction if suggested to search for any lost cash lying unclaimed in your name. However, the brief online search may prove otherwise, as almost every American has at least one form of unclaimed cash or property lying on his/her name.

Most of the Americans have forgotten small amounts incurred to them from closed bank accounts, dividend pay-offs, insurance claims, tax refunds, utility deposits, oil royalties, wages, etc., which they did not bother to collect. The unclaimed cash ranging from a few dollars to a few millions is dormant in the custody of various state treasurers. In spite of the states’ rigorous efforts, there are still many citizens who are not aware of how to recover the lost cash.

$35 billion of unclaimed money isn’t a small amount. Many economies would be willing to have this amount at their disposal. Surprisingly, this huge cache is lying dormant with U.S. in the form of unclaimed cash.

In spite of the relentless efforts by U.S. State Treasurer, less numbers of people are turning up to claim unclaimed cash in their name. Though, the number is on the rise owing to a massive drive taken up by the states, the heap of unclaimed cash is reducing at much less speed than expected.

U.S. state governments have been hard pressing to return unclaimed cash and property to its rightful owners. Today, the amount has reached gigantic proportions and a prime example of this occurrence is the Wisconsin State.

It has been estimated that the Wisconsin state treasurer is sitting over $145 million of unclaimed cash and property that legally belongs to its citizens, but most of them are unaware of it. Wisconsin State has been instrumentally spreading information about the cause and has been trying its best to inform the individuals by sending memos and messages.

Unclaimed cash and property has been on a systemic rise in U.S.. The amounts of unclaimed cash have grown to new heights and today U.S. government is trying its best to hand over $32.877billion to its owners. This mammoth amount of over 117 million accounts is currently being safeguarded by state treasurers and other agencies.

The government has been creating multiple platforms to reach out to its citizens. To date, they have sent out thousands of personal memos, notices and messages to the people across the state.

Could you possibly have an unclaimed lottery win without your knowledge? Unclaimed lottery jackpots along with unclaimed checks and utility deposits are becoming an area of concern for U.S. authorities who are already struggling to disburse the surmounting unclaimed cash and property laying with the state treasurers.

It is unbelievable that $12 million lottery jackpot can go unclaimed; but it has happened in Barstow, CA. A winner of the jackpot who bought the ticket is yet to come forward to claim his money. This Super Lotto Plus ticket was purchased from the Barstow Station Ice Cream Shoppe and the owner of the Shoppe stands to win $60,000 if the ticket is claimed. A $50 million Lotto jackpot remained unclaimed in Florida. As per the Florida Lotto, nearly $122 million in jackpot prizes went unclaimed and expired since its inception in 1988.

Should any unclaimed money go to releaving the state’s budget deficit? Most of the U.S. states are caught in a peculiar situation in which there is unmanageable budget deficit on one hand, and hoards of unclaimed cash on the other. This has set the brain-storming among the U.S. think tank. They advocate that these unclaimed funds can be effectively utilized to fill in the budgetary void.

In spite of the relentless efforts by the authorities, claimants are not coming forward in expected numbers to fetch unclaimed cash in their names; it is likely to remain dormant for long. It will make good economic sense to not let it idle till the claimants come forward.

Unclaimed cash and property have been the prime concern for U.S. state governments. Though the property and cash is safe in the government treasury, it is not supposed to be there. People have started responding and acquiring unclaimed cash and property. They are claiming what has been rightfully theirs on a more aggressive note.

Last year, Michelle Bixler of Pennsylvania received her $35,000 check that was owed to her nine years back as an insurance amount. Another St. Louis citizen got his $1.6 million back. People who have no unclaimed cash in their name can even retrieve unclaimed cash and property of their parents name by claiming as legal heirs. This example was set by Russ Johnson who could claim his parents $2,985.65 that he was completely unaware of.

New York state comptrollers’ Office of Unclaimed Funds’ official website declares that New York State is sitting on $9.9 billion in lost money. These billions of “lost,” “abandoned,” or “unclaimed” money has resulted from forgotten protection amounts, utility deposits, inactive bank accounts, insurance policies, investments and many other business-related transactions.

State law requires all concerned agencies to surrender money belonging to inactive accounts to the State. This is one of the most prominent consumer protection features enacted in the U.S. Untill the time authorized owners turn up to claim, the Office of the State Comptroller acts as custodian of this money. The office is more than willing to hand over this money to the rightful owners.

Great Colorado Payback is here to distribute huge unclaimed cash to Coloradans. State Treasurer Cary Kennedy informs that Colorado government is geared up to return about 500,000 Colorado citizens’ unclaimed cash. The rightful owners of the unclaimed cash include many businesses and individuals who have forgotten to claim their rightful dues down the line.

Every year the state distributes about $50millions of unclaimed money but still many people whose names appear on Colorado Payback list do not appear to claim the money owed to them. Till date, the program has benefitted over 220,000 Coloradans by more than $100 million and the authorized give away is still continuing.

‘Unclaimed money’ has achieved a new magnitude altogether for last couple of years. As the amount of unclaimed money started swelling in the state coffers, treasurers were out asking citizens to come forward and stake their claims.

Almost every American has one or the other type of unclaimed cash or monetary property in their name. It is a shocking fact that there are around $33 billion worth of unclaimed cash with the U.S. government and other state organizations.