Free Money Maybe Waiting For You.

[maxima191]

Missing Money Free Search for Unclaimed Property - Officially endorsed By The States and Provinces


Check this site out found it by watching the news today-I found some money owed to a friend-Nothing for me

[curtinsea]

Just a bit of FYI, this is a real handy and cleverly disguised way for the government to track down individuals who are either wanted by the authorities and/or owe the government money.

I have searched this myself before, and just did again, it shows AT&T owing me over $100 from a business address I held in 1996. There is no way AT&T owes me money, if anything the State might want to talk to me about that business venture - the contact for the money just happens to be the state revenue dept, who would also be the ones looking to collect some possibly owed back taxes

*not that I owe anything, but my filings could have been incomplete for that particular year

[WinJStar]

Actually I just posted because Maxima made a blog as well. I collected a couple hundred a few years ago. I don't recommend the site linked in this thread, but for example if you search Nevada unclaimed property, it wil take you to your state's office. Search by your state and then you also don't have to worry about paying a finder's fee or commission. My mom also did a commercial when she was younger and was owed residuals from 20 years ago by the Screen Actor's Guild and she found that. You never know Curt, the money owed to me was a deposit from the electric company when I had moved.

Of course if you are running from the law, I don't recommend claiming anything

[curtinsea]

Well if AT&T owes me money, then the site should be directing me to an office with them, not the State Dept of Revenue. If that were the case I would jump on it. But there is no reason that money would have been passed on to the government for them to disperse. I know of no law in that says you have to turn over money owed individuals to the state to hold onto until claimed.

[curtinsea]

I'm not saying that this is a complete fraud, but this is a well known tactic of law enforcement to catch fugitives and others. i had a friend who was lured back to Frisco to collect an "inheritance" . . . . what he got were a pair of silver bracelets . . . connected with a chain

[maxima191]

I found a utility deposit for a friend-The site is for a lot of states and it is legit-The government may be looking for dead beat parents owing child support who knows.
I bet the lady who found out she was owed 6 million dollars was very grateful indeed.

[RoadBob]

Just a bit of FYI, this is a real handy and cleverly disguised way for the government to track down individuals who are either wanted by the authorities and/or owe the government money.

I have searched this myself before, and just did again, it shows AT&T owing me over $100 from a business address I held in 1996. There is no way AT&T owes me money, if anything the State might want to talk to me about that business venture - the contact for the money just happens to be the state revenue dept, who would also be the ones looking to collect some possibly owed back taxes

*not that I owe anything, but my filings could have been incomplete for that particular year

Curt while I admire your cynical veiw of government, I think this is not as sinister as you seem to think.

The process being referred to here by the OP is called escheatment. As it applies here, when a financial institution or company loses track of a person they are holding money for that money is escheated to the state to be held in trust until the person come forward to claim it. It allows companies to clean up old accounts. The company can not just claim that you abandoned the money it is holding for you and as such it is now theirs. They can escheat it to the states which then allows them to close the account.

In your AT&T example, you may have had to make a deposit in order to get service. When you stopped doing business with them, you may have forgotten that deposit. After some period of time when they could not contact you, the money was transfered to the state govenrment. The government is now holding it until you claim it. This allowed AT&T to clean up it's old accounts and therefore would not owe you the money.

I'm not saying that the state government could not do some of the things you alledge in the process of returning your money, but it's not as if they are tossing out a net and seeing what they catch.

As for the website, I don't know anything about it, but I know where I live, the state government is actively trying to return lost property. They have a website and at large public gatherings such as fairs, they have a booth where you can search for lost property and then get info on how to reclaim it. If the website listed in the OP wants to charge a fee, I would just contact the state directly.

[RoadBob]

Here is a much better explanation than the one I just gave.

Accounts – Abandoned or Unclaimed

The Escheatment Process
All states require financial institutions, including brokerage firms, to report when personal property has been abandoned or unclaimed after a period of time specified by state law — often five years. Before a brokerage account can be considered abandoned or unclaimed, the firm must make a diligent effort to try to locate the account owner. If the firm is unable to do so, and the account has remained inactive for the period of time specified by state law, the firm must report the account to the state where the account is held. The state then claims the account through a process called "escheatment," whereby the state becomes the owner of the account.

As part of the escheatment process, the state will hold the account as a bookkeeping entry, against which the former account owner may make a claim. States tend to sell the securities in escheated accounts and treat the proceeds as state funds. When a former account owner makes a valid request, however, the states will normally provide the former owner with cash equaling the value of the account at the time of escheatment. This amount of cash does not include any dividends or interest covering the time after escheatment.

There are several websites, including commercial ones, where you can search for unclaimed property. One non-commercial site, the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, allows you to search by individual state.

States have their own requirements for finding and claiming unclaimed property. If you believe you have unclaimed property, the state will require you to send them information about yourself to verify your ownership of the unclaimed property. After verifying your ownership, the state will either mail you a claim form or permit you to fill out the form online and print it for submission to the state.

Accounts -- Abandoned or Unclaimed

[homer]

not what i expected but thanks!