Unclaimed Funds

Odds are, you, or someone you know has some money they have forgotten about. There is approximately $42 Billion of unclaimed funds in state treasury departments around the country and some of it could be yours. Unclaimed funds are accounts which go without activity usually for a year or longer. They can be funds from checking or savings accounts, tax refunds, uncashed dividends, security deposits and more.  There are many celebrities who have unclaimed funds on the NYS database including Al Pacino, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Kofi Annan, Matt Lauer, Marisa Tomei and many more. `

You can find your applicable state database at http://www.unclaimed.org or you can search 35 states at once at http://www.missingmoney.com.

New York State currently has $14 Billion in unclaimed funds in its coffers. Many states borrow against their unclaimed funds so there is little effort to return the money to its rightful owners besides listing their names in a database. Other states shorten the time someone has to claim their funds. If someone doesn’t claim their money in time, the funds escheat to the state.

One point to remember is that every one of these databases is free. You should never pay money to an outside contractor to get your unclaimed funds.

The first time I went to the NYS website, I found that my father had two unclaimed accounts that were over 20 years old. My father claimed the funds and received a check approximately one month after. On the Florida website, I was able to find an unclaimed account for my deceased grandfather. He had unclaimed rebates from the Florida DMV.

There are also other types of funds which go unclaimed. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) keeps a database of unclaimed pensions and TreasuryDirect keeps a database of unclaimed treasury bonds.

Remember, it’s free money and it’s yours. Take 2 minutes out of your day and search these databases.