Archive for October, 2007

A recent article on the web site of ABC affiliate WBAY restated the problem with returning Wisconsin unclaimed money to it’s proper owners - people still believe it’s a scam!

“A lot of people still think it’s a scam, ‘Oh, they’re going to arrest me.’ I’m assuring people that it’s not a scam and we’re not going to arrest anyone, and we just have something that belongs to them that we would like to give back,” Sass said.

It’s hard to believe that even today, after many years of credible folks, even Oprah Winfrey, explaining to the public that there truly are BILLIONS in unclaimed money across the country, just waiting to be claimed by average citizens.

According to the Wisconsin State Treasure’s Office, the state of WI is currently holding $281 million. That’s right, over a quarter of a BILLION in lost assets, in the state of Wisconsin.

There’s even $4.6 million in unclaimed property in Brown County, WI alone!

There’s $4.6 million in unclaimed property in Brown County, and the state treasurer was in Green Bay Friday trying to give it back to its rightful owners.

Are you due a pile of Wisconsin found money, like some people?

According to Sass, one of the biggest claims her office handled was for $750,000 in unclaimed property.

I’m tempted to make an obvious joke about folks from Wisconsin trying to get their cheese… but I won’t. Instead I’ll just encourage you to get started doing a thorough Wisconsin unclaimed money search.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments No Comments »

Wow, even the NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg discovered he was owed unclaimed money!

October 22, 2007 — ALBANY - To a billionaire like him, it may be pocket change, but Mayor Bloomberg collected nearly $76,000 this year in unclaimed funds from the state Comptroller’s Office, The Post has learned.

The state cut the mayor a check for $75,900 in August, according to the Comptrol ler’s Office.

The money is left from some business dealings he was a part of before becoming mayor.

Now that may be interesting, learning that a billionaire mayor of New York City was able to make a claim for almost $76,000, but what does it mean for you? Not much, but here’s the good news!

Meanwhile, more than $8 billion - belonging to 22 million accounts - remains in the state’s unclaimed-money funds.

And while $75,900 may seem high, the largest amount paid out by the fund so far has been $5.9 million, to the heirs of an unidentified estate in 2005.

As for the largest sum yet to be claimed, that, according to the Comptroller’s Office, is a cool $1.7 million.

Excellent point about that $76k in unclaimed property not meaning much to a billionaire like Bloomberg, but I doubt whoever made $5.9 million claim sneezed at it! Then again, maybe they did. How much money must one have to simply forget about almost $6 million, and have it turn up somewhere down the road as found money?

But the most important part of this story (to regular folks like you and me) is the more than $8 Billion in NY unclaimed money, belonging to 22 million. people. That number is almost unbelievable, but I suppose when you factor in that NY is a large state, and of course is home to New York city which might as well be the center of the world, it starts to make sense.

Bottom line, 22 million of you need to get a move on, tracking down your missing unclaimed funds! The government has something that belongs to YOU and you just need to learn how to locate and regain control of your unclaimed money, because you can bet they aren’t going to go out of their way to find you!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments 2 Comments »

As with everything in the Lone Star State, the total dollar amount of Texas Unclaimed Money (both returned and still waiting to be claimed) is HUGE.

Listen to the total amount of unclaimed property returned to citizens of Texas in fiscal 2007:

About $119 million in unclaimed property was returned in Fiscal Year 2007 according to the comptroller’s office.

Wow, huh? Well, if you’re sitting their in Houston, Dallas, or even Dripping Springs thinking “where’s my money!?”, you might still be in luck. Despite having just paid out $119 million in unclaimed funds Texas still owes a lot of found money:

Comptroller Susan Combs published the list of 152,000 people with at least $250 that’s waiting to be claimed.

That translates in to AT LEAST another $38 million (if every one of the 152k only had the minimum $250 claim. Many certainly are owed more). And this also doesn’t include smaller claims that might belong to you.

Often missing money comes in small amounts, which is why it went missing in the first place, so even if your name wasn’t in the paper, you still might be due a claim. Texas Unclaimed Money could come from any of the following sources:

- a dormant bank account
- a forgotten utility deposit
- an old uncashed check
- unclaimed investment income
- securities
- family heirlooms from an abandoned safe deposit box
- other valuable assets the original owners have forgotten.

If you think there’s even a slight chance that you may have some forgotten money in one of these types of accounts, you owe it to yourself to start your search now. Why not take YOUR MONEY back from the government and get that new iPhone you’ve been wanting or take that vacation you’ve been contemplating, or maybe just pay off your bills. It’s your money, do what you want with it, just don’t let the government hold your money any longer!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments No Comments »

There’s currently a battle between judges and state employees in California over whether or not the state should be seizing unclaimed property and whether or not they’re making their best efforts to notify citizens that the state has their found money.

The LA Times breaks down the unclaimed cash mess:

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Thursday cleared the way for the state to once again seize people’s inactive bank accounts, stock shares and the contents of safe-deposit boxes.

The order from U.S. District Court Judge William B. Shubb lifted his June 1 ruling that stopped the state from seizing “unclaimed property” whose possible owners or heirs were not being properly notified ahead of time.

The judge’s action came in response to a new California law and increased efforts to contact owners of “unclaimed property” before it is taken.

The new law “appears to provide notice reasonably calculated to inform property owners of the impending seizure of their property and significantly lessens the likelihood of irreparable harm to plaintiffs,” Shubb said.

The article goes on to quote people on both sides of the issue. Some think the new law largely solves the problem of folks not being notified that the state is holding their missing money. Others think it doesn’t go far enough and this constitutes an abuse of CA citizens. It’s tough to tell who’s right, but one thing is for sure… don’t rely on the state to return your unclaimed money to you!

If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s that most people don’t know how to property search for their unclaimed funds in the first place, and most web sites out there aren’t teaching you how to exhaust all methods of searching for your money. But if you’re going to rely on the state to find you, then you can forget about seeing that money.

The article goes on to explain that $87 million will be returned to people this fiscal year. Yeah, that’s great, but how about the other $5.013 BILLION!!!???

That’s right, not even 2% of the money will be returned. Do you need any more proof that locating your unclaimed money is up to YOU, because clearly the state is incapable of returning your cash to it’s proper owners.

Take control and learn how to search like a pro at http://www.unclaimedmoney.net

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments 3 Comments »

I’m always shocked to learn that there are people out there who are still skeptical about unclaimed property. I guess it’s just tough for some to image that there are literally BILLIONS OF DOLLARS just waiting to be found and claimed by people, just like YOU!

For those of you who remain skeptics about unclaimed money, let this week’s unclaimed funds story from the Birmingham Business Journal be a smoking gun for you:

Alabama’s treasury department reported Tuesday that a record $23 million has been paid out in unclaimed property so far this year - and another $373 million is still available for collection.

(Emphasis mine. Read the rest here)

That translates to $396 million, of which only $23 million has been collected!!! What are you Alabamans waiting for!? Wouldn’t you rather have that found money than let the government hold on to it? I mean, sure it’s exciting, picturing your money sitting on paper in a file in some state office… but wouldn’t a vacation or paid bills be just a little more exciting?

I always tell people that they need to stop giving up on their unclaimedproperty search so easily, when an online search from some internet site turns up no records or bogus records intended to make people chase their tails.

The fact that OVER 94% of the unclaimed money in Alabama still not been claimed proves my point - people don’t know how to search. UnclaimedMoney.net teaches you search strategies and points you towards resources that the other sites won’t.

Did you know searching online won’t cover all of your bases? Did you know there is unclaimed money out there that hasn’t been turned over to the state yet, and thus no record exists in the state databases? These challenges can be overcome with UnclaimedMoney.net’s help.

As for anyone living in AL, I suggest you get moving on searching for and claiming all that Alabama Unclaimed Money. Your state is sitting on heap of cash, and there’s a good chance some of it is yours!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments No Comments »

You’ve probably heard that the government is currently holding billions of dollars, owed to citizens from things like old bank accounts, forgotten tax refunds, veterans benefits, and stock dividends.  There are quite a number of other reasons why the government might have money, waiting to be claimed by you, but did you know that you might be owed unclaimed money from your old jobs?

After learning that there is no such thing as a “national unclaimed money database” (DON’T believe a site that claims there is), and discovering all the resources for searching for missing money in each individual state, I search the names of a few family members, and found that many of them were owed undisclosed amounts.

Beyond those few undisclosed amounts, I found a record for money owed to my cousin Adam, and the details of the record revealed that it was from a major clothing retailer, found in malls across the country.  I scratched my head for a minute, before bursting out laughing when I remembered that once upon a time he picked up a few hours a week working there in order to get the employee discount.  It only lasted a few months, as he was working so much at his full-time job, and the money wasn’t good, it was all about the discount, which is probably why he forgot to pick up his last check!

That’s right, years after he left the part-time job he held solely for a discount on clothing, the small check he’d forgotten about, but was still owed, had been turned over to the state and was now listed in the state’s unclaimed records.

Now, every state has it’s own regulations, so I don’t know off the top of my head how long it takes before your former employers would have to turn money over to the state, but if you’ve had a lot of part-time jobs, summer jobs, or jobs while you were in school or had a lot of other things going on in your life, there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten about a check or two along the way!

If you think there’s a chance you’re owed unclaimed money in the form of payroll checks from a former employer, or for any other reason, you owe it to yourself to search now, and you owe it to yourself not to waste money paying “per search” or paying “finders fees”.  UnclaimedMoney.net teaches you how to do it yourself, and you’ll only pay one low fee for LIFETIME ACCESS!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments No Comments »

As I watched the Red Sox claim their spot in the American League Championship Series, and the Yankees unclaim theirs, I was asking the question that I’m sure was on all of our minds: What happened to that giant freak Barry Bonds, and what is his consolation prize? Turns out it’s unclaimed funds!

Well, if Bonds isn’t busy painting himself green to do stunts for The Incredible Hulk 2, he’s probably SUCCESSFULLY searching for his unclaimed funds, and learning that he’s $460.20 richer!

Owner’s Name: BONDS BARRY
Amount: $460.20
Type of Property: Refunds
Reported By: CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS
Reported Address: 1100 MARSHALL STREET , REDWOOD CITY CA

So cheer up gigantor. You may be leaving the Giants (and possibly retiring) with a cloud over your head, and a needle in your butt… but at least you took the career home record* (yeah, that’s right, I asterisked ya, get used to it!) and you’ve got $460 from some old cell phone you owned at some point!

Honestly, this post started out partly as a joke. After noting that many of the famous names (even cartoons) that you search at other unclaimed money sites reveal just how fake their “databases” are (NOTE: There is no national unclaimed funds database, don’t be fooled by sites telling you they have one). But upon searching Barry Bonds with REAL California unclaimed funds resources, I learned that he is indeed owed unclaimed funds!

Now, you’re probably thinking “it’s probably a different Barry Bonds”, which is what I figured at first too… but I googled that address, and low and behond, it is him! Actually, it appears to be the “Barry Bonds Family Foundation”, but it’s the Barry Bonds who is owed California unclaimed funds, none the less.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments No Comments »