1.3 Million Garden State Dwellers Owed New Jersey Unclaimed Money
Residents of the Garden State pay some of the highest property taxes in the country- as much as twice the amount paid by residents in the other states. Once can’t help but wonder then why a significant number of NJ homeowners have neglected to claim their property tax rebates. Quite puzzling specially during times like these. A WCBS news report says 200,000 Garden State dwellers have NJ unclaimed money from property tax refunds worth a whopping $200 million! You think that’s a lot? That’s only a fraction of the total New Jersey unclaimed money pile in the State Treasury owed to 1.3 million people!
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, even items from abandoned safe deposit boxes. People, specially if they’ve been working numerous jobs and have had several addresses 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 them 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.
The economic conditions in the US is a bit gloomy right now and the fact that there is an estimated $33 billion worth of State unclaimed property across the country is quite ludicrous if you think about it. 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. Doing an online unclaimed money search can do wonders for Americans whose wallets have been yearning for contents during these tough economic times.
Almost $400 Million Delaware Unclaimed Money Collected
The Delaware Division of Revenue collects dormant and abandoned assets throughout the state each spring. Last year, it collected $370 million worth of these, making the Delaware unclaimed money pile even bigger. The DE unclaimed funds come from unspent gift cards, dormant bank accounts, abandoned safe deposit bank contents, stocks, insurance benefits and similar assets.
The National Unclaimed Property Law require businesses and financial institutions to report and hand these ‘lost assets’ to the state after a specified dormancy period of usually 5 years. Delaware, along with South Carolina and Louisiana have shortened this to just 3 years recently however. Bad news for owners of family heirlooms and mementos in forgotten safe deposit boxes, as these are auctioned-off by the State and the proceeds put into the DE unclaimed money fund. With the period of dormancy shortened to 3 years, it’s quite possible for some people to be going about their daily business- thinking their savings accounts and valuables are safely tucked-away, when in reality it’s been handed over the the Division of Revenue as Delaware unclaimed property.
There’s even more bad news- something that might make residents search for Delaware unclaimed money and property ASAP. A news report released early this year tells of a New Jersey woman that pleaded guilty to being part of a Delaware escheat theft ring that stole over a million dollars from the Delaware unclaimed property fund in the Department of Revenue! Chandrea Sanassie, a New Jersey native, was part of a 5-person team of swindlers led by Anthony Lofink (a state official’s son) that swindled unclaimed stocks from the government. Sanassie used her share of the money to pay for cosmetic surgery, expensive clothes and jewelry, luxury cars and and started-up capital for a tanning salon. What would you do with extra cash? Do an unclaimed money search now and see if you’ve lost money you don’t know about.
Quite A Few Celebrities Owed Massachusetts Unclaimed Money
The now defunct New Kids On The Block, superstar chefs Ming Tsai and Todd English, even star slugger for the Boston Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra are on the State of Massachussetts unclaimed property list. This means the State owes them MA unclaimed money from financial assets they’ve lost track of over the years. Isn’t it kind of odd that the government can’t track these people down to reunite them with their MA unclaimed funds?
The National Unclaimed Property Law requires businesses and institutions like IRS to turn over state unclaimed property from bank accounts, tax rebate checks, stocks, insurance benefits, etc. to the State Treasury if they’ve been inactive for a 3-5 years. The State has the responsibility of safekeeping and locating owners of unclaimed money using the last known address of owners. Massachusetts keeps unclaimed money belonging to MA unclaimed property owners they can’t find, but how does this explain NKOTB, a famous Red Sox star, and celebrity chefs being owed MA unclaimed funds? It’s not as if these people are difficult to locate like the average Joe.
Think about it, if members of a famous boyband and an award-winning Chinese-American chef can be owed Massachusetts unclaimed money from Metlife stocks ($800 worth) and $921 in cash (respectively), what more a regular resident of Massachusetts? Even an eatery which can be easily located (Legal Seafoods Seafoods) is owed a whopping $5,103 unclaimed cash!
Roughly 40,000 names are on the State’s recent list of MA unclaimed property owners and they’re owed a total of $13 million according to a Boston Herald report on MA unclaimed money. That doesn’t even include previous unclaimed property owners still in the state’s database! Even retired state officials have $14 million unclaimed retirement benefits owed them, says NBC’s Channel 7 News based in Boston. You can be one of the scores of Americans missing money and not even know it. Do an unclaimed money search now and get crucial cash in your pockets! In times like these, it wouldn’t hurt.
Tennesse Unclaimed Money
Millions of dollars worth of Tennessee unclaimed property are turned into the State’s Treasury Department every year. The TN unclaimed funds belong to citizens residing in and sometimes even outside of The Big Bend State who have somehow lost track of their finances due to oversight, change of address, or errors in the mailing of financial documents. Like those of other States’ Tennessee businesses and financial institutions are required by law to turn over people’s missing money and property after being unclaimed after 3-5 years.
The $370 MILLION Tennessee unclaimed money pile gets bigger each year because the amount of TN unclaimed property the Treasury collects from banks, insurance companies and businesses is way bigger than the amount given back to owners of lost money. Reason for this is mainly lack of awareness among residents and lack of manpower in the TN Unclaimed Property Division.
Everyone should check if they have TN unclaimed money in their name- it’s quite surprising whose names appear on the State’s list of unclaimed property owners. Knoxville Commissioner Richard Briggs turned-out to have $250 from an old insurance policy. “When I got the call, I thought it must be some kind of mistake,” said the Commissioner. “When people say the word ‘property,’ I initially thought it meant land or buildings instead of money.”
A former UPS employee found out he had almost of $500 coming to him after a friend saw his name on a list of people owed Tennessee unclaimed money. Turns out he was missing money from his last paycheck at UPS. Funny thing is he had already been receiving pension checks for two years. Surprisingly, even State agencies of Tennessee are owed unclaimed money. A collective of total of $10,000 are owed to the Department of Commerce and Insurance, Department of Safety, Department of Transportation, Tenncare, Department of Revenue and the University of Tennessee! “It’s interesting, funny, that one state agency can’t find another state agency to give them their money,” says House of Representatives candidate Ron Hickman who decided to check if the State itself has unclaimed money. Assistant Treasury Commissioner Steve Curry in Nashville’s WSMV-TV News says (with sarcasm, I’m sure) “We can find the University of Tennessee, and we will return the property to the University of Tennessee and the other departments”
Think about it. If State agencies themselves can be owed unclaimed property money, what more the average Joe at his office or at the corner fast-food joint flippin’ burgers? Do an easy online unclaimed money search now- you just might have an uncashed check or lost loot out there somewhere.
Alabama Unclaimed Money
“We’ve got money that belongs to people in every nook and cranny in Alabama,” words from State Treasurer Kay Ivey that should be music to the ears of Alabama residents. 18,000 residents of Lee County alone have almost $5 million from abandoned safe deposit box contents which have been collected by the State as Alabama unclaimed property. These, along with financial assets from dormant bank accounts, languishing stocks and bonds, uncollected salaries, uncashed checks, etc. are required by the National Unclaimed Property Law to be turned over to the State after 3-5 years of going unclaimed.
Residents of other Alabama counties have even more unclaimed funds coming to them, of course. The total Alabama unclaimed money in the Treasurer’s Office is almost $400 million right now and the pile of unclaimed funds is getting bigger each year because most people aren’t even aware that the State has their lost money from forgotten assets. “Many people are simply unaware that unclaimed property exists in their name,” says Deputy Treasurer Anthony Leigh. In the 2007 fiscal year, $55.6 million AL unclaimed funds from abandoned assets were collected and only $23 million reunited with Alabama unclaimed property owners.
Alabama, like most other states keep residents’ unclaimed money in perpetuity until the rightful owners or their next of kin show-up. “There is no time limit by which the individual must come forward to claim property. individuals claiming property for themselves must present identification and proof of address or social security number depending on the information submitted by the business that turned the property over to us,” Leigh says. That’s a comforting thought for people who have their hands too full to be searching for unclaimed property right now, but with the poor economy and high costs of living in the U.S. right now, doing an unclaimed money search right now might be a wise move.
New Mexico Unclaimed Money
A recent post on New Mexico’s Las Cruces News announced that the State’s Taxation and Revenue Department will soon be holding its annual outreach program in reuniting NM unclaimed property with its owners. “We’ll be advertising in newspapers all over the state, and we’ll be available at our booth during the state fair,” Rick Homans, secretary for the department says. “We encourage everyone to review our lists to see if we might be holding some of their property or money — and we will be more than happy to give it back.”
Like most states, NM holds New Mexico unclaimed money and property for its owners forever until they are claimed. Lost and abandoned financial assets are collected by the State after if they go unclaimed after a few years and the businesses and financial entities are required by the National Unclaimed Property Law to hand them over. People lose track of bank accounts, stocks, bonds, insurance policies and the like when they change addresses or switch jobs. Unclaimed tax refund checks are also categorized as New Mexico unclaimed funds and over $10 million worth of these are owed to 35,000 NM senior citizens and disabled veterans who have until October 15 of this year to claim them. After that, the unclaimed tax stimulus checks will be turned-over to the state where they can still be claimed after some processing.
Local newspapers will advertise names of people owed New Mexico unclaimed property throughout September and outreach booths will be set-up in State Fairs also. Last year almost a million fair-goers were reunited with their missing money from these state unclaimed property booths. This year, a total of 748,000 citizens are owed New Mexico unclaimed property worth roughly $110 million!
Too busy to visit the State fairs? Find out how to do a proper and effective unclaimed money search yourself and avoid ‘finders’ who are just after a chunk of you lost money.
