Unclaimed Money Search


Missing Money.com – Find Your Missing Money?

Posted in Uncategorized by unclaimedmoney on April 25, 2009
Tags: , , ,

MissingMoney.com

I am a fan of finding missing money!

I am not a fan of MissingMoney.com

Why?

They do not support all states, and they clearly do not show all claims that are possible to find even for those whicgh are listed. It says so right in their FAQ!

For those who do not like to read the small print, go directly to the source holding your missing money to ensure you find every stinkin’ possible claim for you and your family. Finding missing money owed to you is not rocket science, but you must be sure to search the correct sites or you may be leaving missing money on the table, or worse, get caught up in a website out to take your money rather than help you find it.

For an official listing of all 50 states missing money websites, see MissingMoney.Tv

missingmoneycom

If you are taken from the official website to MissingMoney.com, you are advised to CALL or WRITE the unclaimed money office of your state and ask if they have money being held in your name. For those states which redirect you to missingmoney.com, by all means search the site, but also call the missing money office to ensure they have searched all possible cliaims.

Resource Link: Missing Money FAQ

MISSINGMONEY SEARCH

Georgia Unclaimed Money

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Georgia Unclaimed Money

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Georgia Unclaimed Money
By Russ D Johnson

A recent report by the Chattanooga Times announced that millions of dollars in Georgia lottery winnings go unclaimed in Georgia and Tennessee. Lottery officials say this is mostly due to people that buy lottery tickets while passing-through and either forget to check if they’ve won or not.

According to another news report though, a larger amount of Georgia unclaimed money is in the hands of the state’s Treasury Department. Hundreds of millions of dollars in forgotten funds are held by the state government and most Georgians are unaware of its existence. Catherine Westbrook, an elderly resident of the state was very aware though and became frustrated when she tried getting a $1200 check from an old life-insurance policy. “When I didn’t get it for two or three weeks, then I called and they would say, ‘No, the check wasn’t written, hasn’t been written’ — that’s all they would tell me.” said Westbrook who adds after getting the check 5 months after: “I don’t know why they take so long to write a check.”

Georgia’s Unclaimed Property Law or escheat law which originates from feudal laws in England require abandoned and forgotten assets such as bank accounts, income tax refunds, uncashed checks, uncollected wages, insurance premium overpayments, gift certificates, cash dividends on stocks and mineral deposits, and others to be turned-over to the hands of the state after a specified ‘dormancy period’. This period for Georgia is 5 years and less for other financial assets. “Dormant funds are remitted to the State of Georgia. Demand deposit accounts are deemed to be dormant after 12 months and time and savings accounts are deemed to be dormant after a period of five years without activity”, according to an official statement from Georgia’s State Treasury. In a press release from the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Unclaimed Property Unit, “The time that must elapse for property to be determined “abandoned” and turned over to the state varies depending on the type of property. For example, unclaimed wages and company liquidation proceeds must be turned over to the state after one year. The vast majority of unclaimed property must be turned over to the state five years after the last contact with the rightful owner. Time frames for other types of property are: safe deposit box contents must be forwarded to the state two years after the box was opened by the holding financial institution; money orders seven years after the issue date; and traveler’s checks 15 years from the issue date.”

The Georgia Revenue Commissioner has since tried to make some improvements with regards to the state department that handles missing money in Georgia, like replacing an old automated call center system with operators who can check the status of claims immediately. According to Tim Shields, a manager with the revenue department, “From the time the claim form comes in the door, if we have everything we need, within 8 to 10 weeks, that person’s going to receive a check,”.

Greg Daugherty, Executive Editor of Consumer Reports, said “When I entered my own information, I didn’t find anything belonging to me, but I did find some money belonging to a great aunt of mine who has since died, and would have left it to me.” Greg isn’t alone, which is why enlisting the help of an unclaimed money expert is of the utmost importance.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Georgia unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russ_D_Johnson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Hundreds-of-Millions-of-Dollars-in-Georgia-Unclaimed-Money&id=893445

Start Here For Unclaimed Money

Posted in Uncategorized by unclaimedmoney on October 31, 2008
Tags:

.

State Of Maine Unclaimed Money

At an average of 40 million pounds, the State of Maine supplies 90 percent of lobster in the USA. Unknown to most residents, the State Treasury stores something more irresistible than spiky red shellfish- Maine unclaimed money.

Each year, residents lose track of an average of $25 million worth of financial assets. Old bank accounts, forgotten gift cards, uncashed checks, etc. The State collects the lost money from establishments each year and tries its best to contact or inform the owners through newspaper publications. Maine unclaimed money whose owners have no known address are used to balance the State budget. At 43% , ME has one of the highest rates of return of State unclaimed property in the US. “In the last couple of years we’ve been doing a massive reorganization of the unclaimed property effort here, and I think it has paid off,” says State Treasurer David Lemoine. One of the things that have helped increase the return of unclaimed money in Maine with its owners is a state policy that lets legislators gain favor by locating residents and reuniting them with their missing money. “There’s nobody in the state who knows how to find somebody better than the local legislators,” says the State Treasurer.

Still, there’s a significant amount of Maine unclaimed money left in the Treasury. The town of Saco alone has 2,600 unclaimed property owners who are missing money. One elderly woman turns out she had a whopping $2,000 ME unclaimed funds coming to her from refunds. In a report by The Times Record, 1,240 Freeport residents have over $345,000 in their name and 157 people in Pownal are owed $24,282 unclaimed funds.

Banks, insurance companies and businesses are required by the National Unclaimed Property Law to report Maine unclaimed property that haven’t been collected after a specified period (usually 3-5 years). World-renowned clothing company LL Bean is the largest reporter of Maine unclaimed property in the form of gift cards. People just stick them somewhere and forget about them. With the country’s financial giants on their knees and cost of living going-up, Americans need all the cash they can get and learning how to do an effective unclaimed money search online can be one the easiest ways of doing this.

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.

Georgia Unclaimed Money- Almost $1B Owed To Residents

Most residents of GA State may not be aware about State unclaimed property. If they did, certainly the $684 million Georgia unclaimed property wouldn’t have ballooned to $900 million during the current fiscal year. As mandated by US law, the State collects idle financial assets from various businesses, insurance companies, banks and other financial establishments every year. Financial assets that have been abandoned and whose owners haven’t been located for a a few years are ‘escheated’ to the State as Georgia unclaimed property. Here’s part of an article on Georgia unclaimed money written by an unclaimed property expert:

Georgia’s Unclaimed Property Law or escheat law which originates from feudal laws in England require abandoned and forgotten assets such as bank accounts, income tax refunds, uncashed checks, uncollected wages, insurance premium overpayments, gift certificates, cash dividends on stocks and mineral deposits, and others to be turned-over to the hands of the state after a specified ‘dormancy period’. This period for Georgia is 5 years and less for other financial assets.”

Escheat laws were passed to protect citizens’ lost money- giving the State responsibility for the safekeeping of residents’ unclaimed money and property lest the financial entities holding them keep it for themselves. Some criticize that some States are seizing citizens’ unclaimed funds for the purpose of balancing their budgets. “When they are used the way they were intended, which is as a mechanism to help reunite property owners with their lost or abandoned property, then I think they’re a good thing,” says Atlanta lawyer John Coalson who specializes in Georgia unclaimed money. “When they’re used as a means for states to simply raise money, then I think states ought to call a tax ‘a tax’ and not just take people’s property.”

Whichever way the State uses citizens’ unclaimed property, there’s no question that more residents should check if they are owed part of the $900 million GA unclaimed money pie.

Atlanta resident and grade school teacher Sheila Sellers found out she had lost money in her name. She got a letter from the GA Department of Revenue informing her of a substantial amount of cash- $1700 from old stocks and a forgotten bank account from out of state. “Right in time for Christmas. I plan on being out the day after Thanksgiving,” said Sellers in a WGCL News report.

Other residents may want to check themselves too. Almost a billion dollars unclaimed money means good odds of coming up with something. All they have to do is go online to do a search for unclaimed money.

Arkansas Unclaimed Money

Residents of Arkansas would be interested to know that the State’s annual revenues are 5.6 percent higher than the previous year’s- making a jump from $19.6 million to $20.9 million. Why in the world would residents find this interesting?  Well it’s because the revenue increase was brought about by a boost in the amount of Arkansas unclaimed money from assets they’ve lost track of.

Each year the state collects abandoned bank accounts, uncollected salary checks, insurance benefits, languishing stocks and bonds and similar assets held by banks and businesses state-wide. The National Unclaimed Property Law requires financial entities to turn these over to the government after a specified dormancy period of usually 3-5 years. Tangible items from safe deposit boxes are also turned over to the Treasury and these have included two Roman coins that dates back to the time of Jesus and 600 ounces of pure gold coins belonging to an elderly widow. Her late husband apparently died a week after leaving the 600 South African Krugerrands in a bank.

In Arkansas, unclaimed money goes into the State’s General fund until its rightful owners come along. $23 million was added to the AK unclaimed money pile this year and around 5,000 residents have over $375 in their name.

State unclaimed money piles are getting bigger across the U.S. because citizens aren’t aware about their missing money. Most of the ones that know about it never bother to do an unclaimed property search thinking it’s too much of a hassle and the amount of their unclaimed money in State hands isn’t worth the effort. Well, quite true- if you didn’t know how and where to look. Doing a proper online search using tips from an unclaimed property expert can spell a significant amount of extra cash for a lot of people. Over $30 billion national unclaimed funds are waiting for the rightful owners right now. Ironically, these people are too busy making ends meet and are oblivious about their missing money.

Watch this interesting news report showing people finding their lost money:

Next Page »