According to Missingmoney.com, within the United States alone, billions of dollars of unclaimed missing money is collecting dust in state Abandoned Property offices. If extrapolated to include the funds held world wide by similar organizations in other countries, the sum of unclaimed missing money could exceed $500 billion dollars. Hmmmm, that's almost enough to bail the economic community out of its current financial debacle.
Every day, for various reasons, People move away and do not update their address, they lose track of some of their investments, they die without a will, and who knows why else...but, they leave money in banks, in utility accounts, security deposits, and many number of other ways. Some of these monetary items end up in the state's possessions after they are declared abandoned by the organization or financial institution that held them. These forgotten bank accounts, un-cashed stock dividends, insurance payments, safe deposit box contents, utility deposits, travelers checks, money orders and other financial instruments are turned over to the state's Treasurer's Escheats, Comptroller's, or Revenue office who then try to track down the owners and return the money.
By the amount of unclaimed and missing money on record, it appears these state offices are under staffed and not very successful in locating the owner's of the missing money. All 50 states have a Department of Revenue and Unclaimed Property or some similarly named division. This is the office responsible for maintaining the missing money and processing claims for it. Some states have limitations on how long they keep abandoned property before turning it over to state coffers; however they most keep it indefinitely. Some states even pay interest on the money if the property was originally an interest bearing instrument. You must check with your individual state and find out what their procedures are.
If you think you may have missing money held by your state, your first step is to contact the correct state agency to find out whether your name, or in the case it is the estate of a deceased individual, their name is on the list. Each state maintains a publicly available list of abandoned property holdings. If you or the person you represent is on the list your next step is to file a claim and return the form with the required identification or proof of ownership. Requirements for proving ownership vary from state to state, based on the amount of the claim and other factors. Acceptable identification many include copies of driver's licenses, receipts, social security cards and numbers, bank account numbers, savings passbooks, checking account and bank statements, or other notarized documents.
It has been speculated that ten percent of the U.S. population is owned money from abandoned property and missing money coffers. The state departments do not have the resources to investigate every case; therefore much of it goes unclaimed. There are professional finders, or heir searchers who locate the owners of missing money and charge a fee or commission in exchange. Professional finder's of missing money generally limit their activity to large estate findings. Be careful if you enlist a professional service to locate your potential missing money.
There are billions of dollars in unclaimed property and missing money sitting in your state coffers. There is a good chance that some of it belongs to you. You, your neighbors, relatives, co-workers, friend, and many many others have an interest in what happens to all of this missing money. Are you going to stake your claim or be a loser because you failed to take advantage of the services that your state offers? Are you going to claim your missing money?
Come back next time for more tips. Tricks and techniques to assist you in Living the Champagne Life on a Beer Budget. Remember we're all in this together and I'm pulling for you.
Mahalo.
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