Check for Unclaimed Property/Funds

[snarlingcoyote]

I posted back about 8 or 10 years ago about this, but this morning for no good reason I went online and checked in a state I lived in about 11 years ago for unclaimed funds and found some unclaimed money. Every state will have a site (always free) where you can check for unclaimed funds that have been sent to the state after X years. They put these on an online database, and if you find your name you submit a claim and get your money. This is my 3rd time finding unclaimed funds; it's something you should check occasionally.

Google "unclaimed property" and any state you've lived in or done work in, then hunt through their database. Also, remember to check for relatives. I found a cousin of mine several hundred dollars once and have found other friends money this way.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Woohoo! Good for you!

I have some unclaimed property (the last paycheck from a job) but I can't access it because at the time, I was living in my grandparents house, and I did not have a single thing that had my name and their address on it. No bills, no statements, no personal mail... believe me I have tried every angle... but the state is pretty clear to me, unless I can produce some kind of official proof that I lived there, I have to kiss that $800 goodbye!

 

[laceltris3]

I have never had anything, because I am pretty good about following up on that stuff, but I just checked and I have $26 from my old homeowners insurance. I am pretty sure that the Insurance Company isn't properly escheating to the state, though, because the $ has to have been from my hurricane damage claim in 2008 and it just got turned over to the state in 2016. And since it has my current address associated with it, they didn't exactly try to find me. Now I have to decide if it's worth it to pull together the documentation for $26.

 

[Munchkin_Mom]

Thank you for the reminder. I did not find anything under my name, but I did find something for my husband. Every bit helps!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I have never had anything, because I am pretty good about following up on that stuff, but I just checked and I have $26 from my old homeowners insurance. I am pretty sure that the Insurance Company isn't properly escheating to the state, though, because the $ has to have been from my hurricane damage claim in 2008 and it just got turned over to the state in 2016. And since it has my current address associated with it, they didn't exactly try to find me. Now I have to decide if it's worth it to pull together the documentation for $26.

I hear you - my new claim is worth $11.70. :/ I am on the line about whether or not to waste time filing. I have only ever been tangentially involved in the escheat process, but I know there are state laws to follow, supposedly and that they vary wildly. This claim wasn't up in 2016, is up now, and we moved in 2007, and in a state that supposedly has really strong escheatment laws (I'm told by someone who did some eascheatments involved in that state.).

 

[tvguy]

I didn't find out the state had any money for me from their website. I went to put money in my Credit Union account and they said it had been closed and turned over to the state! They said it was closed because there was no activity in 2 years, or so it said on the account. But when they pulled up the account, they showed I was in every 4 months in that time period making deposits. They couldn't explain it, but once it had been turned over to the state, they could not reverse it. They said once I got the money back, they could open a new account for me! I think not.
Took about 60 days to get my money back once i mailed in the claim form.

 

[piccolopat]

Woohoo! Good for you!

I have some unclaimed property (the last paycheck from a job) but I can't access it because at the time, I was living in my grandparents house, and I did not have a single thing that had my name and their address on it. No bills, no statements, no personal mail... believe me I have tried every angle... but the state is pretty clear to me, unless I can produce some kind of official proof that I lived there, I have to kiss that $800 goodbye!

What about a tax return or insurance ID card (home, auto, medical)?

 

[danielocha30]

Not from unclaimed money, but I once was cleaning our files and there was a bunch of unopened mail, some I could tell what they where without opening and just discarded, but there was one from a insurance company and I randomly decided to checkout what it was, so it was a check for $1500 at it was FIVE years old! I couldn't believe it! the check was expired so we make a call to the insurance company they verified us and mailed a new check within the week, the amazing part is we where struggling to buy a new car and this was heaven send, that mail survived two moves and some time on a storage unit and I'm still surprised.

 

[mjkacmom]

Just checked, nothing for us, but I saw some for DH's cousin and two aunts (one is deceased), so I sent him a Facebook message. Looks like small amounts for one of my uncle's and some of his kids.

 

[starry_solo]

I have $25 to claim in like 8 different payments. Hoping the State can combine them all!

 

[Sagginit]

There is a feature to do this for government savings bonds but that website has been under construction for the last few weeks. I was alerted as I have a baby and someone wanted to buy a bond, they mentioned I should check to see if my "lost ones" are there Apparently my father took them when my parents got divorced and then told people they were lost (he cashed them in which we found out years later but nice dad huh?).

I am fairly tidy so I never find anything but there are always people that don't know about these things so this is a great post.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

I have checked our state's database on/off for years. I have yet to find anything at all, but I think it's wonderful that many people do find the money that is rightfully theirs!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Woohoo! Good for you!

I have some unclaimed property (the last paycheck from a job) but I can't access it because at the time, I was living in my grandparents house, and I did not have a single thing that had my name and their address on it. No bills, no statements, no personal mail... believe me I have tried every angle... but the state is pretty clear to me, unless I can produce some kind of official proof that I lived there, I have to kiss that $800 goodbye!

Would the state accept some notarized statements of people who knew you when you lived with your grandparents as witnesses that yes, you are the marcyleecorgan who lived at XYZ address between the years 123 and 456?

ETA: How did you cash your paychecks when you lived with your grandparents? (Just thinking things through.) Were you only living with your grandparents when you had this job, or did you live with them prior to or after this time and if you did live with them at other times, are any of those companies still afloat? Did you SEND any mail while living at this address that might not have been tossed?

ETA2: Your story bothered me, so I did a little research. Apparently most states will accept an affidavit of residency in lieu of other documentation. Google it with your state's name. This is a statement, sworn by you of residence somewhere. You will likely have to get it notarized (check with your bank, some offer cheap or free notaries). It doesn't appear on most lists of "acceptable documents" but it is accepted most places. (Did that make sense?)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Marcyleecorgan - also, are either of your grandparents alive? That would make your notarized affidavit of residency that much stronger and more acceptable. They would be your landlords for this purpose and able to state on the affidavit that you did indeed live at this residence for this period. In lieu of them, who are their heirs? You could possibly get their heirs (your parents and aunts/uncles, I suppose?) to also state this for you if your grandparents have passed.

(BTW, I work in IT compliance. Finding ways to meet controls is kind of my business. . .)

 

[marcyleecorgan]

What about a tax return or insurance ID card (home, auto, medical)?

Unfortunately not. I was in-between addresses for that year, and I held no insurance or bills in my own name. Hence why I can't prove that I am myself and that money is mine.

Nope, never received any mail at the address - I was actually forbidden to give it out to anyone, so I had to use the General Delivery P.O. address in our town for any address. NOT that I had a box there or ever received mail, my grandparents just didn`t want any record of me living in their house and sleeping on their couch and borrowing an questionably-insured car to drive to said job.

I really have no documentation to prove anything about anything for this 8-month period of my life. Unless somehow the dozens of expensive art books I bought at 30% employee discount count, hahaha (and no of course I do not have the receipts LOL)

Also my grandparents live in a completely different country so it's not really possible to do a affidavit. Nor do I think they would assist me.

Pretty much it would be up to the state to determine if they feel a matching SSN is enough to give me the money. Because that's all I have - my original SSN card.

Still.... I guess I should reach out to them again and find out if they can be any more flexible than they were the last time I contacted them!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Unfortunately not. I was in-between addresses for that year, and I held no insurance or bills in my own name. Hence why I can't prove that I am myself and that money is mine.

Nope, never received any mail at the address - I was actually forbidden to give it out to anyone, so I had to use the General Delivery P.O. address in our town for any address. NOT that I had a box there or ever received mail, my grandparents just didn`t want any record of me living in their house and sleeping on their couch and borrowing an questionably-insured car to drive to said job.

I really have no documentation to prove anything about anything for this 8-month period of my life. Unless somehow the dozens of expensive art books I bought at 30% employee discount count, hahaha (and no of course I do not have the receipts LOL)

Also my grandparents live in a completely different country so it's not really possible to do a affidavit. Nor do I think they would assist me.

Pretty much it would be up to the state to determine if they feel a matching SSN is enough to give me the money. Because that's all I have - my original SSN card.

Still.... I guess I should reach out to them again and find out if they can be any more flexible than they were the last time I contacted them!

Is the place where you worked still in business? Are you in contact with anyone you worked with at this job?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Is the place where you worked still in business? Are you in contact with anyone you worked with at this job?

Yes it is, but I reached out to the Head Office in 2010 (had to file some back taxes) and they didn't have my info on file - don't know if that was because it was prior to 2001? In the end I had to guess-timate my IRS filings and since it was less than $5000 that year, it wasn't an issue.

And nooooooooo... my departure from this job was rather ugly and there was a lot of drama. I left them "hanging" when my mother pushed our "moving across the state" up by a week. So my three weeks' notice became seven days' notice. Believe me, since I didn't "cover" for the boss' liquid lunch from 9am to 5pm, I was the hated one on the totem pole. I even had a manager LIE to me to get me to drop my day off and drive over an hour to work so that everyone could LAUGH at me! I was told that the one co-worker I actually liked was leaving to go to the hospital after having a stroke. Said co-worker even laughed at the joke at my expense!!!!

All store management was fired about a month after I left due to massive unprofessionalism and store unprofitability.

 

[HHMcG]

Interesting.
I don't have anything but my father has two. They don't give the exact amounts but the range for the one is sizeable. He is listed as "Joint Owner - Uniform Gift To Minors Act" with his Aunt who didn't have any kids. It is from 1999. I'll have to check with my mom and then fill it out for him (he is not in the capacity to do it himself anymore).

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Yes it is, but I reached out to the Head Office in 2010 (had to file some back taxes) and they didn't have my info on file - don't know if that was because it was prior to 2001? In the end I had to guess-timate my IRS filings and since it was less than $5000 that year, it wasn't an issue.

And nooooooooo... my departure from this job was rather ugly and there was a lot of drama. I left them "hanging" when my mother pushed our "moving across the state" up by a week. So my three weeks' notice became seven days' notice. Believe me, since I didn't "cover" for the boss' liquid lunch from 9am to 5pm, I was the hated one on the totem pole. I even had a manager LIE to me to get me to drop my day off and drive over an hour to work so that everyone could LAUGH at me! I was told that the one co-worker I actually liked was leaving to go to the hospital after having a stroke. Said co-worker even laughed at the joke at my expense!!!!

All store management was fired about a month after I left due to massive unprofessionalism and store unprofitability.

Oh that's awful!!!! At least they were let go, so head office knew.

You can at least ask the state if you submitted a notarized affidavit if they would take it. It's not exactly proof, but you could submit your IRS filings to show that you've been stating since at least 2010 that you are the person in question!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Interesting.
I don't have anything but my father has two. They don't give the exact amounts but the range for the one is sizeable. He is listed as "Joint Owner - Uniform Gift To Minors Act" with his Aunt who didn't have any kids. It is from 1999. I'll have to check with my mom and then fill it out for him (he is not in the capacity to do it himself anymore).

Fingers crossed!