You work from home or contemplating working from home and you’re sitting there wondering what to do today or tomorrow, why not take a moment of your time and see if there is any missing money or unclaimed property that you have or someone has left to you. A great way to spend some of your idle downtime with something constructive and it just might lead to a rewarding find. Here’s a little insight on what to expect.
No one knows with utter certainty exactly how much missing money or unclaimed property is owed to citizens of the United States or Canada, but estimates have it around $30 Billion Plus or so, that is just sitting out there among the numerous government agencies, just waiting to be claimed. If, you’re itching to find out if you or someone that you know has a claim out there, waiting to be received, here’s how to find out whether or not you have missing money or unclaimed property just waiting to be discovered.
Sure, there are unclaimed property and missing money companies online that will assist you in your search for a fee, but if you don’t mind the thrill of the hunt, you can do it on your own. All you are going to need is everything you have now and that is a little time and patience and a bit of persistence could go a long ways.
Note that even though you may not believe that you have anything coming to you, there may be a relative or friend who may, so your search just may pay off, for some one you care about. This $30 Billion Plus of missing money and unclaimed properties can be found in the government databases listing everything from an insurance settlement to a refund you weren’t aware of. The list of possibilities is almost endless.
Every State and every Canadian Province has a department where missing money and unclaimed property is sent and held until it is claimed. This could be anything of value, that is stated or not stated or valued by the agency holding the property. Your job will be to search as many of these government databases as possible to see if you find anything that has gone unclaimed by you, a family member or close friend.
The list of unclaimed properties and unclaimed funds may be jewelry, stocks, safe deposit contents, city, town, province, state or federal refunds or rebates owed to you and you may not even know you’re owed these items. You see businesses in both the United States and Canada and elsewhere, have a legal obligation to hold refunds, rebates, settlements, mortgage refunds, etc, for a period of time and after which, each item is turned over to the State or Province that has jurisdiction for that unclaimed property or unclaimed fund.
Yes, it’s the responsibility of the State or Province to contact the rightful owner of the missing money or unclaimed property and more than often, the legal owner can not be located for numerous reasons (changed address, marriage and name change, divorce and name change, job relocation, illness, passed away and etc).
This missing money or unclaimed property could represent a host of possibilities, just waiting to be found, such as money left in a closed checking or savings account, a closed money market or CD that you had or someone left to you. You may have left a job where you worked long enough to become vested in its retirement or profit sharing plan and left unclaimed funds or it could be in the form of a State, Province or Federal tax refund. How about a yet to be returned, security deposit for a place you once rented, leased or maybe a storage unit you forgot to get the deposit back?
If, you’re like most of us, you’ve got family and even though you may not be too close to some of them, for whatever reason, some people have a change of heart sometime later in life and may have left you as a beneficiary. A relative or close friend could have left you an inheritance in stocks or an insurance settlement. Unclaimed money or unclaimed property represents a broad and vast category of reasons you may have money coming to you.
Did you get your last paycheck, where you use to work part time? What about your favorite Aunt or Uncle passing away, when you were how old? How about that rebate you sent in for an electronics purchase before you went on vacation? Did you pay off your house early and didn’t know that you just might have a mortgage insurance refund owed to you or someone you know? As you can see, the possibilities of getting free money back increases dramatically when you or someone you know, consider the number of business and personal transactions that you or they are involved in during the course of several years.
Okay, so what if you have unclaimed property or missing money out there somewhere? If, it were true, wouldn’t you know about it about now? Well, possibly, but more often than not, you probably wouldn’t. You see the government makes an initial attempt to find the legal owner of the missing money or unclaimed property, but if you know your government, they do some things exceptionally well and other things, well, not as well as you may like.
Your claim for missing money or unclaimed property will just sit there with the respective government agency until someone comes along to rightfully claim it. A position that puts the government in a comfortable position to continue collecting interest until you inquire about it and receive your claim. If, you don’t know to ask about a possible unclaimed property or unclaimed fund, it will just sit in the government coffers, until the legal owner withdraws it.
Now, if you’re even remotely curious, you’re probably wondering how do you go about checking on whether or not, you have any money or property held by the government, huh? Here’s how to check for free, that’s right, for free. No strings attached, other than proving your identity, should you have a legitimate claim.
Keep in mind that when you search for missing money or unclaimed property for you or someone you care about, if you don’t turn up anything, don’t forget to search for both maiden and married names. You can even tell your friends and tell them too, if you like. Also, when you do your search, you won’t see such identifiers such as a social security number or date of birth, instead you will see an address.
The address shown may or may not be your address, but the address of the business that sent your missing money or unclaimed property to the agency that handles unclaimed funds in your state or province. So, don’t give up right away in your search, follow through and you just might be rewarded for your time and efforts. I don’t mean to sound cruel or uncaring, but don’t forget to include your deceased family members and friends, if you really want to be thorough.
Are you curious about the amount you may be owed, don’t worry, you’ll see that information when you do your searches. If, you don’t see an amount associated with a claim, it will generally mean that the unclaimed property, is of a non-value nature. A non-value, unclaimed property, simply means that the business or agency, didn’t list its value when they transferred over to the State or Province administrator. Examples of an unclaimed property that is listed with no value associated with it are stocks and bonds.
Here’s the databases that you will want to check, in no particular order of preferences, but all are free and all are government databases with the exception of two or three unclaimed property sources, but free nonetheless. Of, course, you will want to search your particular state or province and/or search the national database that also includes Canada and then spend some time searching the various complimentary government agencies individually, if you feel it applies to your situation or the situation of someone you care about.
The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators or NAUPA for short, is a must-stop for everyone, which represents the State Governments & Provinces of Canada in their efforts to return missing money and unclaimed properties to their rightful owners. Unlike many of the databases listed below, it searches every state and province at the same time. Go here to search their database for free.
If, for any reason you aren’t comfortable searching The Nat’l. Assoc. of Unclaimed Property Administrators site and feel more comfortable sticking with a government site that you have to sort to, to get to your appropriate state, bear in mind, this is a U.S. Government site and does not include Canada or its provinces. To search for free the U.S. Government Unclaimed Property Site for your state, Go Here.
With the number of bank mergers, bailouts and failures, you might want to take the time and
search for missing money with The FDIC ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). The FDIC is the insurer of the bulk of deposits at banks throughout the U.S., so they may be worth a look, see. Here is the link to check for FDIC Unclaimed Funds.
Just like banks have the FDIC to protect their interest, pensions have the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has the responsibility of holding onto Defined Benefit Pensions that were transferred to them by former employers. So, if you or someone you know put in the necessary time at a job or career and didn’t get your pension, you may want to give them a peek. Here’s the link.
Missing Money and Unclaimed Property can also be found at these link and yes, they all are free:
The U.S. Department of Treasury is a good place to look for any government checks that you applied for and was approved for, but for whatever reason, never got. You check it out here.
The Housing and Urban Development Unclaimed Refunds, Go Here.
Unclaimed Property and Mortgage Refunds, Here’s the link.
Unclaimed Savings Bonds & Treasury Bills Search, Go Here.
If, you’ve gotten this far and haven’t had any luck securing any claims, you’re bound to find something that interests you here at the Government Benefits website. Take your time and pursue this site in your leisure, because it has numerous sources that will appeal to most people, so avail yourself of one or more of the available benefits. Here’s the link. Happy hunting and enjoy yourself in your pursuit!