Unclaimed Money – It’s Worth the Search

Finding unclaimed money that is owed to you is as nice as finding it in the street. The States estimate that 1 out of every 10 people have unclaimed money waiting for them, with an estimate of 32 billion dollars sitting around nationwide to be claimed. Back in December of 2011 a woman from Missouri was the recipient of 6.1 millions dollars. Now obviously that is a super rare situation. But even finding that you have $5 or $10 is nice way to cover that next frappuccino.   I’ve heard people say, “I’m not going to waste my time for $10!”  I always want to respond with “would you pass up $10 on the street because you don’t wanna bend down?”

How to search for unclaimed money is pretty simple:

First go to unclaimed.org then select any state that you have lived in (make sure to check them all no matter how long you lived there.

Once your at the states website (this can vary depending on the states website, this is what I do for the state of California).

• I generally will check for my last name and my first initial.  Now sometimes if you have a popular last name like me this can be a long list.  However you can sometimes find a listing under J. Doe that you wouldn’t have found under Jane Doe.  Just make sure to check the address that is listed.
• I also like to leave the city blank same as before where you may turn up lots of results but I have also seen where it has a listing for J Doe with the address of 123 Main Street in Anytown and a listing for a J Doe with the address of 123 Main street in Anycity both with the same zip code.

I would also like to suggest that you do this an a annual basis.  My wife just looked me up last night to find that I had a listing that was not there last year.  What I also will do while there is search for my family and close friends that way I can advise them of their money waiting to be claimed.