Missouri Unclaimed Money
A recent KMBC news report announces that thousands of people in Kansas City may be richer than they think. At a time like this with the country in economic chaos, that’s great news just in time for the holidays! The free cash isn’t limited to Kansas either. According to the State Treasurer , Missouri unclaimed money has grown to the massive amount of 400 million dollars. The pile of unclaimed property money will keep growing, because like in most other states, MO takes in more unclaimed money every year than they return to residents. Among the variety of reasons why these assets remain unclaimed, is the fact that most people are not aware about the existence of lost money in the Treasury, and those that know about it don’t have the proper search methods at their disposal.
With MO unclaimed money rolls nearing a half of a billion dollars, the “Show Me State” might want to change its nickname to the “Show Me The Money State”. So where does all that cash come from? There are many dozens of different sources for unclaimed money, but some of the most common are safe deposit boxes, certificates of deposit, abandoned bank accounts, life insurance policies, forgotten stocks, and checks that have not been cashed. The Judicial Court in Missouri’s Callaway County as of March of ‘08 had 68 uncollected checks worth almost $9,000 for example. This in a recent report by The Fulton Sun.
Despite the fact that there is no time limit on claiming abandoned cash, MO only guarantees that they’ll hang on to items from safe deposit boxes for one year (though they do occassionaly hold on to them for longer). According to the MO State Treasurer’s web site, this is how they handle these items: “Although State Treasurer Steelman would like to keep the contents of safe deposit boxes until an owner or heir is identified, the unclaimed property vault used to store non-monetary items of value (jewelry, coins, etc.) reaches capacity every couple of years. When the vault is full, the Unclaimed Property Division hosts an auction, and the proceeds generated from the sale of items from safe deposit boxes is recorded in the name of the safe deposit box owner. If owners or heirs are identified, they receive the entire proceeds from the sale of the items.”
It is clear that for those citizens who use or have used a safe deposit box, it is vitally important to quickly get your search started if your items hold some sentimental value to you, but at least you’ll get the money if they sell your items. It’s lucky for the majority of us, most of the money doesn’t come from these auctions.
Whether you’re a former or current MO resident, or in some cases, haven’t ever lived in MO at all, the odds that lost money is owed to you, are in your favor. And the great thing about cash from unclaimed money is that the cash already rightfully belongs to people. This means there are no games or gambling involved. The main thing keeping missing money from turning in to found cash, for most people, is their knowledge about where to search, and how to search.
Countless myths exist about unclaimed money. The most common of which is the idea that performing a simple online search on any old web site is doing a complete search. Sadly the majority of these so called “official” searches, are anything but, and their data is quite often very outdated if not totally false, and only there as a selling point. The other myth is the idea that the state’s databases are up to date and accurate. St. Louis resident Judy Hall encountered a dead end of sorts when (after being advised by a friend who discovered she was due $3,000) found out there were two MO unclaimed property accounts in her late father’s name. She discovered she had a different biological father however and this prevents her from filing a claim or even determining where and how much the unclaimed property is worth.
To learn more about these unclaimed money search obstacles, and many more, and it is important to seek expert assistance in your search for unclaimed money, to be sure that you locate and claim all possible cash owed to you.
Vermont Unclaimed Money
Due to aggressive State efforts in reuniting VT residents with state unclaimed funds, the number of claims for lost financial assets in the Vermont Unclaimed Property Division are up 66% from last year. Almost 10,000 Vt residents got back $4 million from safe-deposit box contents, forgotten bank accounts, unclaimed insurance benefits, utility checks, unclaimed tax refunds and similar assets. According to the State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding in an interview on Vermont unclaimed money: “Unclaimed property refers to accounts in financial institutions, companies, non-profits, even state governments that are some kind of financially related property, whether it’s a tax rebate or a savings account or travelers checks, or gift certificates, insurance policies. And when the institution, whether it’s a private or public entity, loses contact with the person whose property it is, for a certain number of years, usually it’s three or five years, they turn it over to the state to try to find the rightful owners. Every state has an unclaimed property office, and there are some easy ways for people to search and find out whether a particular state has something for them.”
Vermont’s unclaimed property law require businesses, insurance companies and financial institutions to hand these lost assets over to the Treasurer’s Office and although there is a record number of unclaimed property claims the past fiscal year, there’s still around $45 million Vermont unclaimed money waiting for its owners that number to almost 300,000 to come and file for their share.
The VT State Treasurer’s office collected around $6.4 million worth of Vermont unclaimed property from July 1 of last year to May 1, 2008. The financial entities holding-on to these unclaimed assets are required to make efforts to contact and inform owners about their missing money before handing them over to the state after 3 years.
The average claim for unclaimed money in Vermont is $431 and current and former residents of the New England state are urged to check and do an unclaimed money search to see if they have Vermont unclaimed money in their name. They might be one of those owed considerable amounts like the retired Burlington teacher who was found to have $150,000 in her name from old stocks her husband had invested in way back in the 60’s. “Even if people checked our Web site or newspaper insert last year, they could well in there this year and they need to check again,” Treasurer Spaulding says.
Florida Unclaimed Money- $1 billion and growing!
It’s been ’stormy’ times for residents of the Sunshine State lately, but at least they have something to be cheerful about- Florida unclaimed money in the State Treasury. Billions of dollars worth of unclaimed financial assets are piling-up in the Unclaimed Property Division of the State Treasury and funny thing is, most owners aren’t even aware about their missing money.
In Indian River County alone, residents have substantial amounts of money coming to them. That is if they bother to even check. A certain Charles Roberts has $1,500 Florida unclaimed funds in his name. That’s way too much money to be left sitting-around specially in lean times like these. An Elizabeth Nevergold has $274 from lost assets in her name and surprisingly, even Washington’s Library of Congress has Florida unclaimed money worth $750! You think that’s big? Casselberry resident Sidney White received $25,000 from an old bond he lost track of. “My broker changed hands, and one broker was supposed to send it over to the other broker, which he didn’t,” White said.
The main reason people lose track of their financial assets is by changing addresses. Specially changing addresses in an emergency where there’s no time to leave behind a forwarding address. Mailed checks or financial notices from banks, insurance companies and tax refunds from the IRS are inevitably returned to their senders as undelivered mail and are turned-over to the State as unclaimed property after 3-5 years. Unclaimed money can also result from mix-ups in financial records after company mergers of banks and insurance companies.
According to Brendan Farrington of the Associated Press, “there are 7 million unclaimed accounts owed to 4 million Floridians.” Since 1961 the state has collected $2.4 billion worth of Florida unclaimed property. You’d be surprised at who’s on the Treasurer’s list of people owed unclaimed money in Florida- NBA star Alonzo Mourning, Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, Terry “the Hulkster” Hogan (watch the video on the Today Show), and actors Burt Reynolds and Wesley Snipes are just some of the famous names that appear on the Florida unclaimed money list. Believe it or not, even State Governor Charlie Crist is owed $69.70 from an old insurance policy- money he lost track of after switching apartments several years ago. “That is surprising to me,” Crist says in a WINK news report “I would think the records would reflect my accurate address.”
The Florida Unclaimed Property Division early this month earned almost a million dollars worth of unclaimed property collected from safe deposit boxes from banks throughout the state. According to the St. Petersburg Times, $925,550 worth of assorted trinkets, jewelry, and other items were auctioned-off by the State in an auction held annually to make way for new incoming items. The unclaimed money raised from the auction goes into the state’s Public School Fund, but proceeds from sold items can still be claimed by the rightful owners. The state in fact plans to appropriate $48 million this year as slow lottery ticket sales have caused a shortage in funding for State Schools.
Everyone should do an unclaimed money search in Florida and other states. Even more so now in the face of the ongoing U.S. economic slump where any amount of extra cash can be a big help.
Virginia Unclaimed Property
As part of the State’s Department of Treasury annual ‘clearance sale’, the Virginia Unclaimed Property Division recently auctioned-off over a thousand items as part of it’s annual ‘clearance sale’. These are a field days for bargain hunters and seekers of antiques and priceless memorabilia. According to a report by VA’s WBDJ7, items range from diamonds to a picture of American racing legend Dale Earnhardt.
Each year, the Division of Unclaimed Property In Virginia collects lost financial assets and abandoned items from financial institutions (banks, insurance companies, the IRS, etc.) and from deposit boxes and police evidence rooms, respectively. According to their official website, “The Unclaimed Property Division is responsible for the custody of lost, outstanding and dormant accounts reported to them by businesses that have lost contact with the rightful owner when the last known address of the owner was in Virginia. The Division attempts to locate the rightful owners or their heirs to help them claim their property.” They try to locate the owners of the unclaimed assets by publishing names of owners of VA unclaimed property in State newspapers and auction-off tangible items that still go unclaimed after a year.
Fairfax County already has a million dollars belonging to people they’re unable to locate. The total amount of Virginia unclaimed money and property right now amounts to roughly $300 million belonging to thousands of residents and even some citizens from out of state. According to the Division of Unclaimed Property in Virginia spokeswoman Brooke Bredel, 1 in every 7 people in the State has Virginia unclaimed money in their name. A search for unclaimed property in Virginia and other states can turn-up extra cash for scores of Americans in financial trouble right now.
“They have a lot better odds of having unclaimed property … than they would of winning the lottery,” Bredel says in a news reporton VA unclaimed money.
Planning to rent a place in Virginia?
Unclaimed Money In Idaho- thousands of residents losing almost $2 million to the state!
According to a report last May by Joshua Palmer for The Times-News, there are almost $50 million unclaimed money in the Idaho Unclaimed Property Fund and by June 2008, $1.8 million of these will have become state property for good. Most states hold-on to unclaimed property indefinitely with the exception of two states- Idaho and Indiana who puts the citizens’ lost money into their respective state general funds after 10 years of going unclaimed.
This means that the thousands of owners who failed to file for of $2 million worth of Idaho unclaimed property and money from safety-deposit boxes, abandoned savings accounts, languishing stocks and bonds, insurance benefits, unclaimed tax refunds and similar financial assets will lose them to the state by this month’s end.
According to Melanie Wade of the Idaho’s Unclaimed Property Program, “A lot of it has to do with our society becoming very mobile,” adding “Quite often, an employee moves away and the employer doesn’t know where to send their last paycheck.”. A business based in Twin Falls, Idaho has $5,000 in unclaimed payroll accounts piled-up after going through a fairly high employee turnover.
The collective amount in the national unclaimed property fund right now exceeds $30 billion- with the country’s rate of return for unclaimed property not even 30%. The success rate for the return of Idaho unclaimed money and property is one of the best in the US- over 40%, but again, there’s still roughly $48 million Idaho unclaimed money that still needs to be put back in the pockets of thousands of residents- many of whom are clueless about having unclaimed funds in their name. Even a celebrities’ names have showed-up on the State’s unclaimed property list. Original Dark Knight Adam West, Demi Moore, and ketchup magnate H.J. Heinz are owed Idaho unclaimed money it turns out.
During lean times like this, an unclaimed money search in Idaho and other states can turn-up crucial funds to help-out with the overdue bills. Do an unclaimed money search now before you lose your missingmoney for good!
