What is unclaimed money?
It appears that people would know where their money was, so how is it that each state has money unclaimed? Here are some of the ways that people “lose” their money.
This money comes from many sources, typically utility deposits, savings bonds, bank accounts, family properties, safe deposit box contents, employment checks, and insurance policies that have gone unclaimed and are now turned over to the state.
When a state has a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, it’s coffers can tenfold in dollar value. The reason behind this is that a very large portion of those who lose their home also lose important papers. Also some tend to forget the exact location of many of their assets, after all it was written down on the important papers.
Once these assets go unclaimed for a specified amount of time, which does vary from state to state, they are turned over to a government agency with the hope of finding the owners of record. However, these unclaimed assets and unclaimed money accounts are not always claimed by their owners or rightful heirs.
The rate of return is only 30%. The other 70% stays with the state as unclaimed property, indefinitely waiting for the owner to come forward and claim the money. The unfortunate part is that the majority of people do not know about this money.
Some states are more active in their attempts of searching and finding the rightful owners. Local newspapers will run listings of people that are owed money. This is not always effective since a primary reason people do not have their money returned is that they do not live in the area any longer and no forwarding address is on record. Sometimes it is the long lost relative that has passed on their wealth without the heir aware of this inheritance.
Do you have unclaimed money owed to you? Have you lived in many areas and just don’t know where to look? Perhaps there is some confusion on how to claim the money. Whatever your concerns are they can be answered by doing one comprehensive search with CashUnclaimed.com. Here is a web site that has all state and federal databases. This company was founded to assist owners in easily locating and claiming their lost funds.
