unclaimed money

Missouri woman gets $6.1 million in unclaimed property

(KMOV.com) — State Treasurer, Clint Zweifel, is happy to announce that a Kansas City area woman has received the largest unclaimed property return to a business or individual in state history, amounting to $6.1 million. Needless to say, the woman’s name is not being released for her protection.  “while we aren’t disclosing this person’s name, what I can tell you is we found this person and worked quickly to get the money back in her hands,” Treasurer Zweifel said. “Assets become Unclaimed Property every day for many reasons, whether it is a death in the family, misplaced documents or a change in address. What is important though is Missourians know we will safeguard their money forever until they claim it, and they can search 24 hours a day at ShowMeMoney.com.” A man in St. Joseph, Mo., also received $100,000. His claim was made up of 15 different securities accounts. Treasurer Zweifel said there are still 38 accounts worth more than $100,000 each waiting to be returned. the geographic breakdown is:  15 in St. Louis County; 12 in Jackson County; three in St. Louis City; two in Boone County; and one each in Buchanan, Butler, Camden, Cole, Franklin and Jasper counties. since January 2009, $103 million has been returned to more than 303,000 account holders. 

Finding Unclaimed Money by Person Name

Perhaps you have heard about free unclaimed money on the internet, on television, in the newspaper, or from a money hungry friend. Sounds interesting, right? Now you decide to check it out for yourself and your family members. Who knows, there might be some money out there that is yours You can look up the possibilities of finding unclaimed money by person name. It’s easy. and it is free.

To start, remember this most important point: you never have to pay someone to search this out for you. it is free information available to anyone from your local state government Treasurer’s Office. If you get an email saying you have money and they can find it for $29.99, ignore that, those websites are a scam. Some have been shut down by the government.

Okay, when you reach the Treasurer’s Office, whether in person or online at their official website, you want to find the Unclaimed Property office or link. If you or the person who you are trying to help have lived in any other state, go online and do the same thing at every state you have lived in, or that relatives may have lived in. Who knows, maybe they left you a little inheritance you did not know about? Many people have secret accounts at banks and credit unions, or hide assets in a secret bank box. these are a little harder to find. If you have lots of time, check every state, you never know

Right now, estimates are that over $300 Billion dollars in unclaimed money is being held by the government escheats offices in the 50 states in the US. this money can come from a variety of sources, from dormant bank accounts to unclaimed inheritances and class action lawsuits, and more. If not claimed, it will fall to the government. That is what escheats means, that which falls to one. They have to provide time for people to claim, and each state has its own laws on that time limit.

To start finding unclaimed money by person name, online, enter the name into the search box. do this again and again, for every possible form and name that person of interest has ever used. Were they married? did they use an alias? What was the maiden name of a woman? You might also want to put in other family members names, especially if it is your own name you are trying to look up. the search will quickly tell you if you name falls among those owed money by the government escheats office. If you are at an office, fill out the form.

Never pay anyone a fee for finding unclaimed money by person name. You don’t have to. this is a free government service available to you or anyone who wants to use it. When you do receive your money, cash the check immediately, or it could end up back in the unclaimed property department again

Money is Waiting for Black Organizations

By Laura L. Klure, Special to the Black Voice News –

In this economy, you might think everyone is carefully hanging on to every dollar they can possibly keep – so why is the State of California accumulating so much Unclaimed Property? We printed information about the State Controller’s website for Unclaimed Property a few months ago, and the amounts of money sitting there are still staggering.

When people move or lose their homes, or when businesses and organizations cease to exist, such changes result in more money being unclaimed.

It’s a good idea for anyone with access to the internet to periodically check the Controller’s website, which is located at scoweb.sco.ca.gov. You can also find it by searching for “California unclaimed property.”

You are allowed to check the website for other people, including friends and family, and for organizations you care about.

This writer’s brother, Ron Gallup, has been alerting the NAACP and other non-profit organizations in Northern California about their funds that are wai t ing to be claimed.

Statewide, NAACP chapters and projects have had a total of more than $47,000 in unclaimed property listed, with some of the biggest claims belonging to groups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

NAACP Branches in the Inland Empire have smaller sums available, with $633 for the Riverside NAACP Child Care Center, and $100 listed for the Barstow Branch. Waudier “Woodie” Rucker- Hughes, president of the Riverside NAACP Branch, said she did not know why $633 belonging to the NAACP Child Care Center happened to go to the state. Rucker- Hughes said NAACP chapters should be checking for unclaimed funds. she said, “We’re very thankful that you’re on the lookout for us, and we’re encouraging all our other branches to do the same.”

Searching in various ways is important, since the website does not have space for long full names, such as the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” Try initials or partial group names, if your first efforts don’t bear fruit. Searching for “Black Student,” for example, can bring up hits for various groups with longer names. For individuals, try using an initial, instead of the full first name.

If you don’t enter the city where you live now, you might find funds related to previous residences.

Similarly, when searching for organizations, try leaving out the city. just searching for “Urban League” will show you more than a dozen claims for groups throughout the state. the San Diego League would do well to claim their $1,500, and there is more than $1,200 for the Oakland Urban League of the Bay Area.

Organizations often lose funds that were in inactive bank accounts, especially if board members have changed and nobody was monitoring the account.

Individuals, businesses, and groups can also fail to receive some payments if the address was wrong, or some typo caused the mailed check to be returned to sender.

If you formerly lived or worked in another state, it might be good to check for unclaimed funds in that states. it is also possible for funds belonging to Californians to be held in another state if the paying business was located there. Most states have easily searchable Unclaimed Property websites, but some do not give access to as much information as California’s does. In some states you must file an application to know how much money is involved in a claim, and there is always the possibility that it could be just pennies, or only a few dollars.

Organizations should spread the word to their affiliates in other states, since they all might benefit from checking for unclaimed property. NAACP groups in many other states have funds available.

For example, in Michigan there are 38 NAACP claims listed; 28 in New York; 26 in Florida; 17 in Pennsylvania; 15 in Georgia; and so on. Try searching for just “unclaimed property” plus the state name, and an appropriate state website can be found.

At a time when agencies trying to help homeless and disabled people are stretched beyond their limits, it’s amazing to see such claims as over $1,200 for Homeless Outreach in Riverside; or more than $22,000 for a Mental Health Association of San Bernardino (which apparently no longer exists). there is a refund listed with $200 for the AME Church in Corona, and about $2,800 for Church of the Star in San Bernardino.

The Controller’s website lists too many claims to mention them all here. Try searching for: “Black Women,” “African American,” or the name of your workers’ union. A search for “Martin Luther King” brings up various entities named after him, including more than $12,000 for King Hospital in Los Angeles County (the hospital is currently being re-built). A search for “National Black” resulted in 48 claims, including $3,000+ for the National Black Caucus in Modesto, and a big list of claims for the National Black Review in Reseda.

Celebrities are not immune from having funds escheat to the state: there are claims adding up to over $9,200 for Aretha Frankl in, and there’s $571 belonging to Bill Cosby. but be reminded that documentation is required, so you cannot claim things that do not belong to you.

There is no need to hire someone to search for you, but professional unclaimed property searchers do exist. In California, they may charge up to a maximum of 10% of the claims they helped you recover.

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Unclaimed Money

Throughout the United States, people are discovering lost stashes of money they didn’t know existed.

No, it’s not from cleaning out their attics or up-ending their mattresses. It’s actually from the government- money in the form of unclaimed money and property. And there are billions of dollars of it is still to be returned. the latest estimates have been $40 Billion dollars nationwide.

For years, talkshows have featured episodes entirely on unclaimed money. NBC’s Katie Couric recently reported in the Today show, there were billions of dollars in lost assets with the US government including $62 million in uncashed refund checks held by the IRS. Oprah Winfrey was even able to reunite some members of her studio audience with thousands of dollars of unclaimed money after doing an on-the-spot search. Oprah noted 7 out of 10 Americans may be due a claim.

How does this happen? this question appears to be the most common question and the biggest reason many Americans remain skeptical and never search.

When people move or get a new job, get married or pass-away, they tend to lose track of financial assets like bank accounts, tax returns, checks, stocks, bonds, etc. These assets are turned over to the state as required by escheat rules which state that (according to Wikipedia) when an entity (such as a bank) holds money or property (such as an account in that bank) and the property goes unclaimed. In many jurisdictions, if the owner cannot be located, such property can be escheated to the government. the period that banks and businesses can hold-on to these assets before turning them over is called the ‘dormancy period’ (the average is 3-5 years) and it varies from state to state. These lost assets go into each state’s unclaimed property fund where they stay until their rightful owners show-up. There is generally no time limit (Idaho is an exception with 10 years) as to how long these assets are claimed- as long as the identity of the claimant and the validity of the claim is established.

In an effort to locate rightful owners of money owed, the Unclaimed Property Division in the states’ Treasury Departments have outreach programs, but only a small fraction of unclaimed money they are suppose to return is successfully reunited with its rightful owners. this is due to a lack of manpower and no centralized government unclaimed property database.

State Treasurers urge all residents to check if their names are on the list of unclaimed property owners. These are published annually in government websites, newspapers and public places like state fairs. most are surprised at the names which turn-up on the unclaimed lists. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Demi Moore, even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were on lists of people who were owed unclaimed property or money. And to think these people aren’t even difficult to locate.

With millions added every year to the unclaimed money fund, American citizens are encouraged to conduct an unclaimed property search in every state they have ever lived or worked.

The process of searching for unclaimed property and unclaimed money databases can be as simple as entering one’s name in a search box. if the results show that you are on the list, an on-line claim form is usually available online to verify you are indeed the rightful owner.

WARNING: Many unclaimed money sites entice you with supposed free searches, and if a match is made will request payment to access the database. considering you need to search at least once per year, this method could get costly. Unclaimed money expert Russ Johnson, of UnclaimedMoney.net does not charge on a per search basis and offers lifetime access. Russ says say goodbye to those blood sucking unclaimed money websites Utilize lifetime access sites and never pay for access again. most of these databases are misleading, outdated and almost always containing only a small fraction of actual claims.