Does Your State Owe You Money for Unclaimed Property?
Does Your State Owe You Money
Find out if some of the billions in unclaimed cash belongs to you
Chris O'Riley Are you among the lucky people to have unclaimed property (aka cash) coming your way? There's about $42 billion in cash in state coffers waiting for the rightful owners to claim it. Could you be one of them? I was, and with just a bit of effort, I unexpectedly netted more than a thousand dollars. I'm not alone in landing such a windfall. In 2011, in fact, 2.5 million claims were filed and $2.25 billion was returned to its rightful owners, an average of $892 per claim. Are you among the lucky people who have ? Here's how to find out. Start on the Web
Question No. 1 — "?" — is pretty easy to answer. Each state has statutes that instruct companies and financial institutions to turn unclaimed funds over to the state, which is charged with locating the rightful owners. The states have sanctioned two websites to facilitate the search. MissingMoney.com allows you to search the unclaimed-property records for 40 states at the same time. Unclaimed.org allows you to search states individually. One note: It's important to check out both sites. That's what I did, and it paid off after the second search. Don t pay up front
If you do an Internet search for the two sites just mentioned, many others with similar names pop up. Many are legitimate businesses that charge a fee for their services. The state governments — and their websites — do not. If you have complicated claims, you may decide it's worth paying someone else to handle this for you. Safeguard Your Money
Cash your checks when you get them. If you leave a job, make sure you get your final paycheck. "If the last day you work is the first day of a new pay period, you likely have two paychecks coming," says missing-money expert Mary Pitman. Just ask in advance how much of your claim will be charged as commission (it's usually 10 to 20 percent). You should not be asked to pay up front or give a credit card number. Make sure the contract stipulates that if no money is found, you'll owe nothing. , especially by email or phone, be wary. "Call your state's unclaimed-property office," says Mary Pitman, author of The Little Book of Missing Money. Even if a company contacts you by letter, you don't have to work with the sender, Pitman says. You can follow up on your own. Don t let it happen again
One way to make sure you don't lose assets in the future is to streamline your accounts. Consider using one bank for all your banking needs and one brokerage firm for all your investments. If you've been current on your bills, ask for utility deposits to be refunded now rather than waiting until you move, Pitman says. , best-selling author, journalist and money editor at NBC's Today, is AARP's financial ambassador. With additional reporting by Arielle O'Shea Also of Interest
— Receive access to exclusive information, benefits and discounts Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.