Happy Home InsiderA quick trip to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators’ official website reveals two eye-opening statistics. First, one in 10 people has unclaimed money in the form of uncashed checks, bank accounts, utility rebates, life insurance policies, wages, and more. Second, states return over $3,000,000,000 every single year.
What does that mean for you? That it’s time to start searching for unclaimed property that could be waiting for you to find it. Here are several ways to do so:
STOP!
Do you need a financial reset? If you owe more than $10,000 here is a debt relief resource available to help you today.
1. Search by individual states.
Finding unclaimed property is simple when you use state databases. Since states have to return this property to its rightful owners by law, they’ve made it easy to locate so you can take it off their hands.
While the most obvious move is to search for lost funds in the state where you currently reside, you should do the same in every state you’ve lived or done business in. You never know what could pop up.
You can find your state’s treasury website by going here. Just click on the map and follow the directions.
2. Search multiple states simultaneously.
If the thought of going to each state’s website seems like too much work, you can do a national search by going to the Missing Money website. Like state treasury websites, searching for unclaimed funds on Missing Money is free.
A national search can bring up results for unclaimed property in several states. Should you find any with your name on it, you can follow the directions to claim it.
A state and national search are good places to start looking for lost money. Here are even more ways to find it.
3. Find an unclaimed tax refund.
The IRS reports that millions of dollars worth of tax refunds go unclaimed or undelivered every single year. If you think they owe you money, you can contact them and see if there’s an issue if you moved to a new address.
4. Find funds from a closed bank account.
Did you have your money in a failed bank in the past? If so, you could have a claim due to the money left in your name. The FDIC has a specific website for this issue.
5. Search unclaimed Treasury notes and bonds.
This Treasury Hunt tool can help you find if you or a deceased relative has one of the following that has matured and stopped earning interest:
- Savings bonds
- Registered Treasury notes
- Registered Treasury bonds
6. Look for unclaimed retirement benefits.
Employers from your past could be a source of unclaimed cash. Maybe you forgot about an old 401(k) or some other retirement fund, which you can search for by going here.
7. Find unclaimed insurance funds from the VA.
Last but not least, you can see if you have any VA life insurance benefits owed to you by going here.
