Recently an acquaintance was contacted by a company that specializes in finding unclaimed property. If she would authorize them to act in her name, they’d make sure she got the money – minus their 10 percent finder’s fee. She wondered if this were legit or some kind of scam.
Apparently there’s some kind of software that matches unclaimed funds to last known addresses. If even half the folks contacted respond with, “Sure, go ahead,” that company stands to make a lot of money.
But why give it away without at least trying to get it yourself?
In about 60 seconds I was able to search online and tell her that yes, the state is holding a bunch of money for you. And while I was in there, I learned that both DF and I were also owed some unclaimed funds.
Not a lot of money: just $19.71. But as someone who picks up found coins, the chance to get almost 20 unexpected bucks sounded pretty good. And as you can see from the illustration above, that money is now in my bank account instead of the state of Washington’s.
Not sure how much DF will be getting, because he’s still waiting for the results. However, the acquaintance was owed more than two grand. If that company hadn’t reached out, all three of us would still be owed money. But this way we get to keep it instead of forking over a 10 percent fee.
You, too, might be owed money – so why not look for it? Here’s how.
In these inflationary times, we need all the funds we can get. Among the most common forms of unclaimed funds are checks from banks and other financial institutions, insurance companies, inactive brokerage accounts, corporations, city governments and utilities.
About that last: My $19.71 was some kind of refund from the cellphone provider I used while living in Seattle. While I did forward my mail when I headed north, the notice of funds owed never reached me. Maybe they were late doing the books that year, or the following year.
How to find unclaimed funds
Start by going to MissingMoney.com, a free website that’s endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators and the National Association of State Treasurers. It includes Puerto Rico and Alberta, Canada, along with the 50 U.S. states.
Note: A handful of state treasury departments do not participate in MissingMoney.com. But underneath the interactive map is a list of the contact info for all the treasury departments.
It’s a good idea to search for not just your name, but also:
- Previous names you’ve used
- Common misspellings of previous/current name (“Freeman” or “Friedman”)
- Names of relatives if you might be a legal heir (many of DF’s unclaimed funds were under his deceased dad’s name)
Those treasury department websites walk you through the process of retrieving those unclaimed funds. While each state has its own rules, you’re basically asked to mail some form of ID plus proof that you’re the person who was living at that address when the inactive accounts were returned to the state.
(In my case, I pulled the phone bill out of an old business tax file. I’m tardy about shredding files, even after more than seven years have passed. It makes me twitchy.)
Other forms of unclaimed funds
Sometimes a company breaks labor laws, or goes out of business, or ends its pension plan. Maybe you’re owed a refund from an FHA-insured mortgage. These and other less-common forms of unclaimed funds can be accessed as follows:
Pensions from a former employer. Contact the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Unpaid wages. If you or someone you know might be owed back wages from a former employer that broke labor laws, check the Department of Labor database. Note: The DOL holds this money for only three years.
Tax refunds. You’d think most people would follow up if their tax refunds weren’t claimed or delivered. But not everyone’s life is that simple. To see if Uncle Sam owes you, visit the Internal Revenue Service’s refund website.
FHA insurance. You might be eligible for a refund if you had an FHA-insured mortgage. Dig up your FHA case number and enter it into the Department of Housing and Urban Development website.
VA life insurance. The Department of Veterans Affairs may owe you a refund, so check the database.
Harmed investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Administration has a website for certain enforcement actions.
Individual Indian Money accounts. If you or someone you know has an IIM trust account, use the Whereabouts Unknown search engine to see if you are owed money.
Bank/credit union failures. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation lists failed banks. The National Credit Union Administration tracks unclaimed funds from liquidated credit unions.
Savings bonds. The government’s Treasury Hunt website will help you find savings bonds or other securities that have matured but not been cashed.
Bankruptcy funds. If you think you’re owed money as a creditor, visit the U.S. Courts Unclaimed Funds Locator.
The bottom line
You might be owed money. Go look for it! And if you find any, I hope you’ll come back and report it, to encourage other readers.
I went to my state’s website to see if I had unclaimed funds. I found $39 in my name and two funds in my deceased son’s name. He passed in 2001.
Thank you for doing the legwork to inform us of these other websites. I will look into them as well.
You can also search for unclaimed property nationwide for free, if anyone is interested at: http://www.missingmoney.com. A few years ago, I was successfully able to claim some money owed to us using this site and just recently filed another claim that I found a few weeks ago. The website allows you to search by your name and produces a list of claims under that name. You will then need to read the list and check the states, addresses, etc. to see if you think one of the claims belongs to you. If it does, you simply click on the link provided and you are forwarded to the agency through which you will need to submit paperwork to claim your money. You will most likely need to fill out a form or two and submit documentation that verifies your identity. Mine had to be done through the mail. The process is really quite simple, but you may have to wait some time for your claim to be reviewed (like 60 days or more sometimes). Despite the wait, it is really easy and I was able to do searches on behalf of some of my extended family members as well. Hope this helps someone out there!
MissingMoney.com is the agency I suggested in the piece. Glad to hear that you were able to find money owed to you.
This was a great tip, Donna. I did a search at MissingMoney.com and my name came up for over $100.00 (in Pennsylvania, my state). In case this helps anybody else – I found that when I used the MissingMoney link, for some reason I did not get a hit, so I went directly to the PA website. It eventually brought me to the exact same page, and then I got the hit and could put in the claim. Almost $189 dollars! I’m excited!
I know I checked the website some years back, when I was helping my mother with my grandmother’s estate, and there was nothing. So it really does pay off to check this from time to time.
Congratulations on finding the funds. And yeah, I’ve checked in the past and found nothing. Eternal vigilance!
When my dad died (my mom preceded him in death) the family estate was divided between my brother and I equally. About a year later it occurred to me, because of a very timely post like this one, that having moved addresses because of assisted living and changing nursing homes in my parents’ final years that some of their investments might not have kept up with them. I went to the state website on finding lost accounts and did find over $3,000 in dividend checks and oil and gas payments, half of which I was able to get pretty easily from the State. I showed my brother how to get the other half and he was also successful. It wasn’t a lot of money but I knew my dad would have wanted us to recover it and felt we had honored him that way. Great content! And a great service to your readers.
Thanks, Steve. I’m glad that you were able to get the funds that the descendants were owed.
I had searched the state websites a few years ago and recovered some funds from the ’90s. Then last fall, like your friend, I received a letter from a company offering to help me recover more funds. I went right back to my state’s website, and found that my HSA had been turned over to the state for lack of activity. I was able to recover my money on my own, without any need for outside help. Super-easy, but a lesson to check those sites periodically.
Yes. This.
I’ve subscribed to your newsletter for years and have never commented. I found something to claim and when I went to the form to submit it I literally laughed out loud. I’m not filing for $1.45😅 Thank you for all you do!
I check the missing money site for my state periodically – after my Grandmother died I found over $4k in her name! And, a few years back found some in my (deceased) Mothers name !! I check it annually, its on my calendar.
Smart.
Thanks for the reminder! Nothing new for me, but I got curious & browsed through the other funds held for people with my (unusual) maiden name – and discovered that an aunt has multiple claims available! She could definitely use it so hopefully the paperwork won’t be too intimidating for her.
What a nice thing to do for her. Here’s hoping she can claim the funds.
Just another thank you from a long-time lurker! I’d always thought “missing money” was for people who forgot about bank accounts they’d opened, which therefore meant doesn’t apply to me. But I checked, and in less than 5 minutes found that the county from which we adopted a child (originally from the foster care system) had a check for $200 in my name waiting for me. Why they had this in the “unclaimed” section, I don’t know, because the county had no problems when it sent us checks regularly during the years that this kid was still legally our “foster” child, before the adoption paperwork went through. At any rate, the money is now *claimed*! So, thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad you found the money. And glad that you de-lurked.
Donna, I tried missing money and they wanted a membership fee, so I did not use it.
Perhaps you accidentally got routed to a for-pay site? Just checked the FAQs and found this:
Does it cost money to claim my property from MissingMoney?
Never. Searching for and filing a claim through MissingMoney will never cost you money. By filing a claim directly through MissingMoney you are filing a claim directly with the state where the property is held. You will never pay a fee to MissingMoney.
Try again at https://www.missingmoney.com/.
I will. Thanks Donna.
Sue