With the weak dollar and the current state of the US economy, quick extra cash would most certainly be a blessing for most Americans right now. A recent story in “The Independent” reported that a record 28 million Americans are relying on food stamps to survive. Is this The Great Depression ‘08? Not quite, but across the U.S, rising fuel, the housing slump and national credit crunch is forcing Americans to make lifestyle changes. Fact is, more and more people all over the country are working extra hours and looking for ways earn a few more bucks to make ends meet. Ironically, a lot of them might not have to look any further than their State Treasury Department. Not many people are aware that they are owed money by the government but it’s a fact. Residents of the 50 states are owed over $30 billion spread-out among the individual Treasury Departments and New York State’s unclaimed money account is one of the biggest.

State unclaimed money can come from various sources for various reasons. 17,000 Albany residents for example, have yet to cash their property tax rebate checks amounting to $5.6 million. Any unclaimed checks will get turned-over to the State Comptroller on March 2009 as NY State unclaimed money. WXXi recently reported that Monroe County has 40 uncashed checks waiting for it in the New York State Comptroller’s office. “For confidentiality reasons I can’t tell you the exact amount, but the funds on all the claims range from less than $50 to several thousand dollars.” Emily DeSantis of the Comptroller’s office said.

According to NY State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a Queens Gazette report in Sept. ‘08, a total of $9 billion in NY unclaimed money and property are just waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners- most of whom are unaware they’re have unclaimed funds in their name. This might include 440,000 resident retirees and disabled veterans who haven’t filed for their tax stimulus in the various counties of the Empire State. “Most people only need to file a tax return as they normally do,” Dianne Besunder, spokeswoman for the IRS says in Schenectady’s Daily Gazette. “We will calculate eligibility and payment amount. However, many retirees and veterans do not normally file a tax return because their benefits are not taxable. This year, they must file in order to receive an economic stimulus payment.”

Those that have heard about unclaimed property money usually don’t bother to check thinking it’s too much of a fuss. These are the reasons why the money is piling-up. On Monday this week, ABC’s WSYR helped dozens of Central New Yorkers find over $11,000 of their missing money. Four callers on “The Morning News” found-out they had at least $1,000 NY unclaimed money in their name.

The New York State’s Unclaimed Property Law require that lost assets in the hands of businesses and financial institutions be turned-over to the state after a ‘dormancy period’ of 2-5 years depending on the type of asset. The Empire State has one of the biggest fines (up to $50,000) for failure to ‘escheat’ or turn over abandoned assets. These can be uncashed checks and money orders, insurance policies, stock dividends, long-dormant bank accounts, safe deposit box contents and other financial assets. The state then holds on to them until the rightful owners show-up. There’s no time limit as to when owners of unclaimed money can claim their cash, but doing an unclaimed property search in New York would be the more sensible thing to do especially in light of a recent news report about a man getting arrested for stealing New York unclaimed money.

The North County Gazette reported July last year that an owner of a Brooklyn processing company was charged with defrauding over $32,000 New York unclaimed money from the state. He did this by posing as the rightful owners of the funds using personal confidential information like Social Security numbers which he had access to in his line of work. He was a licensed process server and CEO of the company. There was another case just last month in Delaware about an employee with the State government doing the same thing. Reports like this just stresses the urgency for people to do an unclaimed money search in New York and other states to check if they are owed cash that should be in their pockets and not going to those of other people’s.

The economic stimulus checks the IRS sent under the Bush administration were a big relief for scores of Americans currently having trouble with the rising costs of fuel, groceries and the current state of the US economy. These, combined with tax cuts do make things easier for taxpayers across the country. Sadly, a lot of North Carolina’s senior citizens and disabled still don’t know they qualify for the tax credit- leaving $2.45 million of North Carolina unclaimed money from unclaimed tax stimulus checks.

“The biggest concern the IRS has is getting these people to claim the money they’re entitled to,” Mark Hanson, spokesman for the IRS says in an August newsreport on NC unclaimed money. “If they’re eligible for benefits, we want them to get them. … We just want to tell them, ‘Look, the money is there. It’s yours. Go get it.’” Lucy Gorham of Chapel Hill advocacy group MDC Inc. says it’s a national issue: “And I think the IRS has been surprised at how much money is left unclaimed. … But when you have a group of seniors not filing tax returns, that’s logical to me. Social Security isn’t taxed, and all those Social Security recipients might not even know they’re eligible.”

These unclaimed stimulus checks, along with NC unclaimed property money from lost asset like uncashed checks, languishing stocks, dormant bank accounts and insurance and pension benefits add-up to the State of North Carolina unclaimed money pile currently worth over half a billion dollars.

According to Heather Franco of the NC Treasurer’s Office, “The North Carolina Department of State Treasurer holds nearly $700 million in unclaimed property.” In a report done by The Daily Vidette on state unclaimed property, she goes on to say that there are a million unclaimed property accounts in the North Carolina unclaimed property database. NC has a population of around 8 million people, so that translates to 1 out of every 8 North Carolina resident having unclaimed property money coming to them.

Curt McDuffee of Cary, NC was reunited with $1,365 worth of North Carolina unclaimed funds from an overpayment when his now late mother was admitted in a hospital several years ago. “After we get it, I’ll split it with my brother, and I’ll take my lovely wife out to dinner with part of it, and we’re planning to donate the rest of it to our church,” the elated McDuffee says in a WRAL report. The NC TV station was responsible for getting the NC resident in touch with his missing money.

The reason the North Carolina unclaimed money has piled-up is because most owners of unclaimed money in NC aren’t even aware they’re missing money in the first place. Anybody can be owed unclaimed property, so all residents should do an on-line unclaimed money search and check if they have NC unclaimed funds in their name. With high fuel prices and national credit crunch plaguing the US, now is as good a time as any.

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