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The Mountain State has a mountain of residents’ lost money sitting in its Treasury Department. During these times of financial chaos when multitudes of Americans are hard-up for extra funds, it’s quite ironic that it’s there. But the $110 million unclaimed money in West Virginia even stands to grow for the same reason it got there in the first place- most West Virginians (and Americans for that matter) are oblivious about their missing money.

Given the recent hurricanes, mortgages, floods and ever-increasing pace in which we live our lives, losing track of our finances is quite normal. When people have to abandon their homes in a hurry or move to ‘greener pastures’, it’s easy to forget about leaving a notice of a change of address, getting that final paycheck, or closing-up a bank account. WV unclaimed property can come from many sources, but interestingly enough, it’s due to oversight. “They may have a paycheck coming to them that they didn’t realize or some stock their grandparents purchased when they were a child and it was forgotten in a safety deposit box,”‘ State Treasurer Russ Perdue says. “There are all kinds of unclaimed property examples where money was forgotten.” This oversight of assets has been happening across the US actually and the collective amount spread-out among the States already exceeds $30 billion.

In a recent report on The Charleston Gazette, an unclaimed money check for almost a million dollars was presented to local coal company from Appalachian Power. Approximately $965,000 was presented to a lawyer representing Direct Coal Sales stemming from a refund based on a business contract. The check was the largest yet for West Virginia unclaimed money says Assistant State Treasurer Paul Hill in the report.

Anybody’s name can turn-up on a list of of owners of lost assets. Doing an online search for state unclaimed money might just hook you up with much needed cash.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in the State of Kentucky have more money than they probably think. The State Treasury is currently holding $150 million Kentucky unclaimed money from financial assets citizens have aren’t aware, or have forgotten about. These can range from abandoned bank accounts, lost or uncashed checks and gift certificates, old stocks and bonds, even odd items like jewelry or mementos left in safe deposit boxes whose owners can’t be located anymore. If owners of lost assets aren’t located after 3 years (usually), they are turned over to the State Treasurer’s office for safekeeping. Right now, the names on the Kentucky unclaimed property list numbers around 200,000 and since public awareness about KY unclaimed money is relatively low, these numbers are certain to grow each passing year.

A large part of the Kentucky unclaimed money pile is made up of unclaimed tax refunds. 11,000 Louisville residents are still owed $3.7 million worth of these. “The people who haven’t claimed these checks are often the people who could use it the most,” says Mayor Jerry Abramson. “Thousands of people could be letting this one-time windfall pass them by, but it’s an easy process to get the money that’s been set aside for them.” The unclaimed tax refunds in Kentucky average $651 and the IRS reports that 279,000 tax refund checks worth $163 million were undelivered because of address issues.

Indeed, more Americans should really be checking for missing money in their name- specially during times like these.

The Kentucky Unclaimed Property program has returned over $100 million to owners of KY unclaimed funds, but there’s still $150 million languishing in State Treasury’s coffers. The lost money would really come to good use in the hands of Kentucky residents feeling the financial crisis plaguing the country right now. Learning how to do a thorough method of doing an unclaimed money search online is the best way of finding lost cash in your name.

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.

A jade necklace, assorted jewelry, a diamond-encrusted Buddha figurine- these are some of the family heirlooms that Nora Wang thought she had lost forever. A short while after receiving an overseas call from her son (she’s now based in Taiwan), the 60ish Chinese immigrant joyously finds out the priceless heirlooms that have been passed-down through her grandmother still remains with her family. This according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News.

“The Great Colorado Payback” is a program run by the State Treasurer’s office aiming to reunite Colorado unclaimed money and property to its rightful owners. Residents that have lost track of their financial assets through forgetfulness, change of address, death, etc. Nora Wang lost track of her safe deposit box when her bank’s ownership changed hands and she moved to Taiwan from the U.S.

Right now, the Colorado unclaimed money pile has grown to $50 million from unclaimed property collected throughout the State. The National Unclaimed Property Law, to keep citizens from losing their financial assets altogether, requires businesses and financial institutions to hand over dormant and idle accounts, uncashed checks, insurance policies, forgotten stocks and bonds and the like to the State. Tangible unclaimed property are auctioned-off if the State can’t find the owners after a while, so Wang was very fortunate not to have had her family jewels converted to Colorado unclaimed money.

Wang’s case just shows how important it is for Americans to do an unclaimed property search in all the State Treasuries they may have property in. Knowing how to do a thorough search for unclaimed money can spell cash for Americans during lean times like this.

SC State Treasurer encourages everyone to take advantage of “The Palmetto Payback.” A program run by his office annually to reunite residents with the South Carolina unclaimed money collected by the State annually.  If you don’t find unclaimed money in your name after doing an unclaimed money search, chances are you’ll find some owed to a relative or a friend. This is what 100 year-old Hattie Miller’s niece found out after hearing about the existence of South Carolina unclaimed money in the State’s Unclaimed Property website. Converse Chellis, SC Treasurer personally delivered the check to what may be the oldest recipient of US unclaimed funds according to Fox Carolina News. Here’s part of an article on South Carolina unclaimed money written by a state unclaimed money expert:

As of October 2007, it was determined by the Office of the State Treasurer of SC that the state is currently holding $200 million that belongs to citizens who need only step forward and claim it, if they can find it. Despite increased efforts to reunite South Carolina unclaimed money with its rightful owners, which lead to a record return of $900,000 in Sept. 2007, the pile of cash continues to grow.

Each year, South Carolina, like most states, continues to take in more money than it’s able to return to the people. The primary problem is the fact that most people are completely unaware that these funds even exist, which is obvious, or they’d never have forgotten about them long enough for them to be considered “unclaimed”. Even those who have learned about the billions of dollars in unclaimed property all across the country usually don’t know how to go about finding them.

The national unclaimed money total has amassed $33 billion spread out among the various State Treasuries across the U.S. This just reflects the irony that a lot of people are so busy trying to make a living that they don’t realize they’re missing money and that much of it is in the government’s hands. Another recession is highly likely and Americans are going to need all the cash they can get. Read more about South Carolina unclaimed money.

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.

It’s about time someone with some caliber gets the word out about unclaimed money.

By the way, unclaimed money, unclaimed property, missing money, unclaimed funds and similar terms are used interchangeably in regards to unclaimed money. essentially they are the same thing.

i digress…

Tiki Barber was featured on a Dateline special helping unsuspecting owners of unclaimed property get the money back into the rightful owners hands.

It was very entertaining and heart warming to see some of these people receive their funds.

Two lucky individuals received enormous amounts in funds they didn’t know they owned. It is enough to make anyone wonder if they too might have some money.

For a lifetime membership to find your money and anyone else you care to search for, see http://www.missingmoney.tv

These stories were truly inspiring and should give you every reason to search today. Not tomorrow, not the next day, right now? Why not?

With the $1 fifteen day challenge, you have very little to lose, and could have thousands in your pocket before the night is over.

Find your missing money or money owed to those you love.

The Utah State Treasurer is looking for 25,000 individuals and businesses who have lost track of their financial assets. Most of the names that are owed millions of dollars in Utah unclaimed property are probably oblivious of the fact that they have state unclaimed money in their name- the money wouldn’t have piled-up otherwise. Right now, the unclaimed funds in the Beehive State have piled-up to an excess of $100 million!

Every year people lose track of their assets due to a change in address and neglecting to leave behind a forwarding address.. When financial establishments can’t locate the rightful owners of abandoned assets like bank accounts, uncashed checks, and insurance policies, they are required by escheat laws to turn these over to the state after 5 years. The last example (insurance) makes up a quarter of Utah unclaimed money accounts, says Utah unclaimed property administrator Kim Oliver. “Maybe your mom or dad bought you a life insurance policy when you were a little kid. You’ve moved since then and Prudential couldn’t find you when the ownership policies were cashed out. So if you think you were with this firm, you could be getting something.” Oliver is talking about Prudential Properties who changed to stockholder format from policyholder format after which thousands of couldn’t be contacted for their payouts. This in a report from local newspaper The Deseret News.

With the cost of food, fuel and basic commodities going-up, Americans are scrambling to find ways to get extra money just to get by. Doing an unclaimed money search can be one of the quickest (and legal) ways to extra funds in your pocket. Who knows? You may missing money right now and not even know it.

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.