What is unclaimed money?
Want some cash? When you are in need for money, we recommend that you should check unclaimed funds held by the government that might be owed to you. You may never know, you might find the funds that you need. Unclaimed property consists of bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds, income tax refund, refund from insured mortgage, unclaimed back wages, pension funds and contents of safe deposit boxes that typically have been abandoned for one to five years. Funds become unclaimed because the company or government entity loses track of the consumer, due to an incorrect address or other missing information. Unclaimed property laws ensure that financial institutions, other businesses and government agencies return money owed to consumers.
Unfortunately, there is no central source to search unclaimed funds. So we have collected information from all states for you to search in a single location.
There are more than $40 billion sitting with state governments. Click here to start your search for unclaimed money or property in the database that we have compiled by contacting all states. We will look for unclaimed money or property across all the state databases that we have collected.
How unclaimed money works ?
When business owes you money but can’t send it to you, they may turn it over to the state
Each state holds onto that money and keeps a detailed list of who it belongs to.
If some of it’s yours, you can file a claim to get into your pocket
Required Forms and Documentation
Proof of Ownership
You are permitted to use the following documentation to prove ownership on an unclaimed property claim form.
Proof of SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER(SSN)
COPY OF: any legal document showing your social security number such as:
- Social security card
- W-2 form
- Income tax form
- Insurance card
- Pay stub
- Bank statement
- Certificate of deposit
Proof of Address
COPY OF: any legal document showing name and specific address such as:
- Drivers license
- Employment application or documents from personal file
- W-2 form
- Income tax form
- Pay stub
- City/County tax bill
- Title to car, truck, boat, mobile home etc
- Bank statement or bank book
- Marriage/death certificates, divorce decree
- Utility, medical, legal, insurance bill etc
- Deed, Deed of Trust, closing documents on property bought/sold
In 2017 more than $1 billions in unclaimed funds were returned to their owners. That’s more than $3 million a day. The single biggest claim ever paid occurred in 2008 – a $4 million stock claim. Below is unclaimed money by Numbers:
- $58 Billions in unclaimed money in total.
- $186 for every US citizen.
- $300 millions in unclaimed pension benefits.
- $1.1 billions in unclaimed IRS tax refunds.
- $16 billions in unclaimed saving bonds.
- $0 for you to claims yours.
Other Unclaimed Money Sources
Here is a compilation of all other sources that you should check for unclaimed money.
Unclaimed Back Wages
When Department of Labor find violations, often recover unpaid wages on behalf of employees. The agency makes every effort to locate and notify all employees due back wages. If DOL cannot find an employee, they hold back wages for three years. After three years, if DOL remain unable to find the person, they are required to send the money to the U.S. Treasury.
If you think you may be owed back wages collected by WHD, you can Search our database of workers for whom we have money waiting to be claimed. If you find that you are due money, you can submit a claim.
Veteran’s Life Insurance
Where does the Veteran’s unclaimed money come from?
This money represents death awards, dividend checks and premium refunds that were mailed to policyholders. These payments were returned to VA by the Post Office because they could not be delivered. VA holds this money until we can locate the policyholder. Some of these payments have been held for years.
Search the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for unclaimed insurance funds that are owed to certain current or former policyholders or their beneficiaries.
Note: This does not include funds from Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) or Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) policies from 1965 to the present.
Unclaimed Retirement Benefit from PBGC
There are more than 70,000 people who earned a defined benefit pension and who haven’t yet claimed the benefits they may be owed. Those unclaimed pensions total over $400 million dollars, with individual benefits ranging from twelve cents to almost one million dollars. Using our Unclaimed Pensions list, you can Search our list of unclaimed pensions from former employers for unclaimed pension money from companies that went out of business or ended a defined plan.
Unclaimed Tax Refund
Did you know that the average refund amount in 2018 is almost $3,000?
Each year there are billions of dollars of refund checks that are undelivered due to incorrect mailing addresses or wrong bank account numbers. Is there a tax refund waiting for you? Are you aware that you have three years to file a tax return and claim your Tax Refunds(and you won’t face a late-filing penalty for doing this)?
What You Will Need?
- Social security number or ITIN
- Your filing status
- Your exact refund amount
Banking, Investments, and Currency
If you have lost money due to bank failure, your funds might be available at one of below sources as banks are usually insured.
- Bank Failures – Search the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for unclaimed funds from failed financial institutions.
- Credit Union Failures – Find unclaimed deposits from credit unions.
- SEC Claims Funds – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lists enforcement cases where a company or person owes investors money.
Mortgages : FHA-Insurance Refunds
If you had an FHA-insured mortgage, you may be eligible for a refund from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a portion of paid FHA mortgage insurance premium. To Search the HUD database, you will need your FHA case number (three digits, a dash, and the next six digits—for example, 051-456789).
Before contacting HUD, do read the FHA homeowners fact sheet.
We have tried to list all major sources where you can search for unclaimed funds available for you. We would recommend that you talk to your family or try to recollect old accounts that you have not used recently, accounts that were left to you by loved ones or accounts/services where you paid security deposit but did not collect it. You can start by contacting the respective agency or entity.
Also, beware of people who pretend to be the government and offer to send you unclaimed money for a fee. These scammers use a variety of tricks to get your attention, but their goal is the same: to get you to send them money or get your personal information to steal your identity. As per USA.gov, government agencies will not call you about unclaimed money or assets.