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Excerpted From How to Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name

How to Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name

In October 2008, Stansberry & Associates Investment Research began a working on a research project with several state-run unclaimed-money offices, banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

Our mission? To see if our any of our readers have large sums of unclaimed cash in their name. First we looked up the names of some of the analysts who work at our independent shop here at Stansberry. We searched our founder Porter Stansberry’s name first, not knowing what to expect. Turns out, Porter had a handful of unclaimed money out there… dividend checks from Coca-Cola shares that his father bought him when he was a kid.

Then we tried Steve Sjuggerud… Once again, more free money. Blue Cross Blue Shield apparently owes him more than 100 bucks.

Next, we typed in Matt Badiali. Matt’s results were a mix of the two above… He had multiple dividends from shares of Tasty Cakes his father bought him years ago. A few were more than $100.

Amazed at our findings, we did more research. Turns out, the U.S. government is currently holding more than $32 BILLION in unclaimed money and other assets.

Florida, for example, holds more than $1 BILLION in unclaimed money. In fact, the state government recently compiled a list of more than 8 million people who are owed money there. In other words, if you live in Florida, chances are good you or someone you know has some unclaimed money. Or how about Georgia? The state Department of Revenue currently holds about $684 million in unclaimed property. Only $12 million of it was claimed last year. Again, if you live there, chances are good you are owed money. California holds more than $4 billion in unclaimed funds. New York holds more than $7 billion… including more than $1.7 million in a single account.

So we began to wonder, to whom do they owe all that money? Do any of our readers have unclaimed cash they don’t know about? And how can these folks claim what’s rightfully theirs? We cross-referenced unclaimed property accounts in all 50 states with the names in our subscriber files. After this exhaustive process, we now estimate that of tens of thousands of S&A subscribers have unclaimed money they know nothing about.

That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to help you take advantage of the situation. First, we’ll show you how to look for the money you’re owed. We’ll send you to two governmentrun websites, where you can conduct a free search that will only take you about 10 seconds.

After you’ve searched for unclaimed money in your name, we’ll tell you how to make sure your cash doesn’t go missing ever again.

Let’s get started:

Missing Money

It’s estimated that nine out of every 10 people in North America have unclaimed money. This is because it’s easy to lose money. Maybe you’ve moved to a new house and forgotten about a refund or a security deposit the utility company owes you. Maybe an account in your name is receiving dividend payments on a stock you never knew you owned.

Unclaimed money sits in bank and corporate accounts all over the United States. Bank accounts are the most common source of unclaimed money... but it could come from any source. Unredeemed money orders, unredeemed cashier's checks, automatic payroll deposits, refunds, pensions, or mineral royalty payments are other common sources.

The law protects these “forgotten” funds. When a company or bank identifies inactive accounts, it must contact a state official. The state official will then try to locate the owner of the funds or the owner’s heirs. States will hold the funds until they find you. You simply present proof (ID), and they’ll give you your money back at no charge.

State officials work hard to return abandoned money to its rightful owners. They’ve created website databases. They put on events to raise public awareness, and they’ve even formed a National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA).

Missingmoney.com is the latest initiative by the states. Missingmoney.com is an umbrella database of all the state missing-money programs. This is an official database, endorsed by NAUPA, containing the official collective records from most state unclaimed-property programs.

To find out if you have any unclaimed money in your name, first search Missingmoney.com. Don’t worry about entering your name in Missingmoney.com's search engine. It’s private. Your name is only used to generate the results of your search. It’s not saved or used for anything else. We did our searches on Missingmoney.com.

Once you type your name into the Missingmoney.com, the database will bring up every entry in the country that matches it. If you have a common name, you can filter by state to reduce the search results. Along with your name, you’ll get an address, state, and the name of the company that reported the balance. Missingmoney.com will also tell you whether the amount owed to you is more or less than $100.

After you click on your name, Missingmoney.com will direct you to your state’s missing-money website. Here you’ll find instructions for proving your identity and claiming your missing money. The unclaimed-money law says companies must send lost funds to the state of the owner’s last known address. This means you could potentially have unclaimed property in every state you’ve lived in.

After you’ve checked Missingmoney.com, go to www.unclaimed.org. This second website links you to all 50 official state unclaimed-property websites. You should check every state you’ve ever lived in.

One more thing: You should never pay anyone to search for your missing money. Nor should you ever give anyone a finder’s fee for tracking down your money.

Several businesses use the state databases and the Freedom of Information Act to obtain your missing money information. Some of these businesses are fraudulent. They use this information as bait. They either want you to pay for a search or pay them a commission for finding your money. You have free access to the same databases these companies use. There’s no need to pay them. If you’re unsure about a business saying it will help you recover unclaimed funds, check with the Better Business Bureau (search.bbb.org ).

The Federal Government Also Holds Unclaimed Cash

Some federal agencies also hold unclaimed funds. The IRS holds 92,000 undeliverable tax-refund checks. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. holds lost pension funds. The FDIC may owe you money if you’ve lost funds in a bank closure. The U.S. Department of Housing may owe you a refund on your HUD/FHA mortgage insurance premium. The Bureau of the Public Debt holds $15 billion in lost savings bonds and funds from matured savings bonds.

If you think the federal government might owe you money, you can find the unclaimed property contact details for these agencies here: http://www.nast.org/NAUPA/Othersourcesup.htm.

How to Make Sure You Never Lose Money Again

The main reason people lose money is they change their address without alerting companies they do business with. Whenever you change address or your marital status, you should contact your bank and any other institutions that hold your money. Notify these institutions in typed writing.

Don’t let accounts become dormant. Cash all checks as soon as you receive them. Keep accurate records of your accounts and deposits you’ve paid. If you keep a safety deposit box, let a trusted relative have the bank’s name, address, and box number. Finally, make sure you file a will.