Comments on: Missing Money: Finding Unclaimed Property

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:07:29 +0000

I found some money too, when I tried to claim it the state said it does not belong to me. So I called Foundmoney.com the lady was very good, she told me exactly what to do. As it turns out I did not enter the correct SSN. I thought all was lost until I called foundmoney.com

By: bob

bob — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:00:23 +0000

I tried this out too, and managed to find $200 from a title company of a house I purchased in 1994. Thanks for the tip!

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:45:51 +0000

Any word on if there is anything like this for us Canadians?

By: TF

TF — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:44:32 +0000

I actually work for UP in a certain state and a tip or two: if you have some time to kill, write into the office and include a SS# — we can do a more thorough search of the system with it. (I know people get antsy about SS#s though.) If you are looking for something specific, be very specific in your request to the UP office. Send copies of checks or other documents (or be sure to write that info in your letter) sometimes checks are not reported with an owner name on it, just the check number. (For reasons unknown.) The NAUPA (naupa.org) website lists each state’s UP webpage and mailing address.

I’ve heard there are some states that actually do charge a fee for this service, though, unfortunately. I think Ohio is one? I might be wrong.

I have a list at work of the names of scammer companies, but usually the letters that people receive are legit in the sense that there is money for you, they just will charge you a fee to tell you where it’s being held. Don’t do it!! I think twice I’ve dealt with a claimant with such a letter that I couldn’t find out where their money was being held (outside of the state’s UP office) by just cruising online or researching with others in my office.

Nice post!

By: GearMaven

GearMaven — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:30:42 +0000

I’ve loved those sites for some time and found monies for family, friends and former employers. You have to acknowledge the stupidity, however, of banks, business or govt and realize why so much money is unclaimed by doing the following. Take a look at the MissingMoney site again. Now, put “Army” or some other company name in the FIRST Name field and “The” in the LAST name field. Now you see why people don’t get their money. Be very thorough and make sure you enter all kinds of variations of your name, putting your last name first and first name last, use unusual spelling, etc. That’s how I found the most money owed!!

By: Francesca

Francesca — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:45:12 +0000

I found an old dividend payment for my in-laws and an old payment for my OH. Not bad going!

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Sunday Money Roundup - Baseball Starts Again Edition. | My Two Dollars — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:03:12 +0000

[...] Get Rich Slowly digs deeper into a letter he got about finding missing money. [...]

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Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:47:29 +0000

[...] to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!On Thursday, I shared a web site that helps users find unclaimed property. I hoped some readers might find it useful, but I didn’t expect it to be nearly this [...]

By: Gena

Gena — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:48:44 +0000

I just found $68.13 [probably my last paycheck] from a job I had in high school!

By: PLP

PLP — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:46:08 +0000

I found money this way once. I had a second job for a while to prevent taking on debt for an upcoming expense. I made quite a bit more than I needed for the expense and just happened to forget to come back to pick up my last check. It was for a partial week so it was not much money, but I was still glad to receive it. This reminds me of another virtue of direct deposit.

By: JL

JL — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:33:46 +0000

Since your blog yesterday - I have been personaly responsible for finding for co-workers and family, over $5000 in unclaimed property. JD, everyone in my office wants to thank you for post yesterday. To bad that I didn’t have any unclaimed property, but oh well.

By: Financialgal

Financialgal — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:25:51 +0000

The State of Maryland, Unclaimed Property Unit, actually mailed me a notice saying that I had $318 in unclaimed property from a mortgage refinancing that I did some years ago. I would have never thought to check. However, when I read the letter, I was a little concerned that they were requesting my social security number. So I called the office and checked their online website to confirm that this wasn’t some sort of scam to get my SS# and a copy of my driver’s license. Six weeks later, I got the check in the mail.

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:45:12 +0000

Excellent! I recently found a paycheck that I never cashed when I was young and absent-minded. I wondered where I should take it to get the money. I’ll write my state next week (I don’t have the check with me right now).

By: JimmyM

JimmyM — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:28:47 +0000

There is definitely way too much money being sent to state unclaimed asset bureaus. What’s scary is last year I read an article about some non-profit organizations lobbying to have these assets donated to the non-profit organization after a certain period of time. I don’t have anything that I know I overlooked, but I took a more proactive approach to the whole problem of loosing things in the first place. I started using a service called eLifeID (www.eLifeID.com) and made instruction records for all that I have. This way if anything happens to me, my family will know exactly where to find things and have some good instructions to follow.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:34:17 +0000

Wow, I hope you find out it’s not a scam. It’s not a ton of money but it’s something. That would be cool to check out the site and find out you can cash in on an insurance policy or an uncle’s safe deposit box. I hope it leads to good things for you!

Jerry
http://www.leads4insurance.com

By: SkyeBlue

SkyeBlue — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:15:27 +0000

About 7 years ago I found over $2500.00 in savings accounts in CA that had belonged to my mother who passed away in 1978. They had been turned over to the State. Every State has an unclaimed money/property site, usually on the main State website. You should never pay anyone to try and find money for you, it is easy to do yourself.

Also, when you search, search under your name, your maiden name, and even your parents name, and your mothers maiden name. I have even found items listed under my Grandmothers name (One of the savings accounts, she was listed as a joint owner of the account). Search under every State you or your relative lived at.

If you find money, be prepared to be able to show alot of paperwork proving who you are, and death certificates to show how you are related to deceased relatives when you make a claim. Keep copies of EVERYTHING you send and request a confirmation of delivery when you send items.

By: Becker IT » Blog Archive » Finding Lost Money

Becker IT » Blog Archive » Finding Lost Money — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:27:29 +0000

[...] article from Get Rich Slowly today. There was a time one of Grandfathers came to me with a faxed document that showed a [...]

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:00:37 +0000

When I was a kid in elementary school, we had one of those savings account programs where you’d bring in a quarter every Monday and they’d put it in an account for you. Forgot all about that until three years ago, when I did a search and found the old account. $103.

Interestingly, once an account is declared abandoned, the bank no longer has to pay interest on it, as far as I know, which is one reason they are eager to get these old accounts off of their books.

By: Retirement Expert

Retirement Expert — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:25:12 +0000

another website is unclaimed.org. i found close to $400 with the site from two srouces

By: vh

vh — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:16:14 +0000

The public records search is a great thing to do. I found $150 owed to me. Then I located another $200 of my long-deceased father’s. It took some doing, but I was able to prove I was his heir and the state forked over the cash.

If the sender of the letter asks to be paid for retrieving the alleged settlement for you, it’s obviously a scam. But many of these things are not. A friend’s mom had a private investigator show up saying the mom’s father had died and left her an inheritance. She hadn’t seen the old guy, who was quite a rounder, for decades, and everyone was sure it was a scam. But no. She ended up getting $60,000 — since she was living in poverty, that was a chunk of dough for her!

By: Rachael

Rachael — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:01:25 +0000

Oooh I might have something helpful to contribute for once!!

I *just* did a search for this like a month ago, because a friend had found something like $2,000 doing it. Worth a shot, I thought. So, I did myself and all my family…. there was no missing money for ME, but I did find about $400 for my Dad from an apartment deposit he never collected.

…And since you are a fellow Oregonian, I just so happen to know the people for you to check with!

Go here:

http://mscfprod2.iservices.state.or.us/dsl/unclaimed_property/search.cfm

You can search your name, and your father’s, and anyone else you might know. If it turns up anything, there is some paperwork involved - and a notary is needed, if I remember correctly.

Hope that’s helpful!

By: amanda

amanda — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:51:40 +0000

My in-laws actually just got notice of about $2300 of unclaimed property. It was legit- they deposited it all into savings.

By: sir jorge

sir jorge — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:38:29 +0000

yes! I love this.

By: crazypumpkin

crazypumpkin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:22:34 +0000

I actually just had the state I used to work in contact me about “missing property”. The thing that really pisses me off though is that this is wages from an old employer who HAS MY NEW ADDRESS, as I was living here when I quit that job. Annoying. But I too thought it was a scam at first, did some digging and found out it wasn’t. I didn’t mind getting the money I never realized I was missing!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:44:36 +0000

Thanks! I just found $50