Archive for April, 2009

Occassionally we get so busy in our lives seeking out that ’something’ that will make it all worthwhile. We get so engrossed in our day to day tasks that the majority of us don’t notice that what we’re looking for is right there under our noses. No, I am not trying to be Dr. Phil or the Dalai Lama talking about divine peace or everlasting love. What I am talking about, though less spiritual, is nevertheless significant in our lives and will most likely catch your attention as much as anything a cultural icon or a religious leader will say. I am talking about cash. $8 billion in New York unclaimed money and property, to be precise, just waiting to be reunited with thousands of their owners who are almost certainly busy attempting to make money, ironically. According to New York’s State Comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, “We want to return unclaimed funds to their rightful owners. The money belongs to New Yorkers. We want to give it back.”

There are statutes across the country called Unclaimed Money Laws or escheat laws that require financial entities and businesses to pass along forgotten and abandoned financial assets like safe-deposit bank contents, unused gift certificates or cards, stock dividends, unredeemed insurance policies, forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, uncollected salaries and other funds to each State’s Treasury Departments after a certain ‘idle’ time known as a ‘dormancy period’. This time period varies from state to state. In NY though, it’s either 2 or 5 years depending on the type of account. The size of the NY unclaimed money pile is one of the largest in the nation - even larger than California’s 5 billion dollars. The cash goes in to the state’s Unclaimed Property Fund where it stays until the rightful owner steps forward to claim it.

When people change their address, get new jobs, or marry and change their last names, they sometimes don’t remember to provide notice to the financial institutions like the IRS or their banks. Undelivered mail results and financial notices and tax refund checks then do not get to their intended recipient and are returned to the sender. The more chaotic a person’s lifestyle is, therefore, the greater the odds that they’ll lose track of their financial assets. With the notorious hustle and bustle of NYC, it isn’t a shock that it is home to so much unclaimed property and money.

More people have unclaimed funds than they think, says Allison Iavarone, senior manager for financial consulting juggernaut KPMG, in a recent report on missing money by NY’s The Daily News. Believe it or not, Michael Bloomberg, P. Diddy, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, have all shown up on a list of NY State unclaimed money owners. Everyone ought to do a search for unclaimed cash especially if they have a number of relatives or if they have had a busy professional life. Valerie Jundt, a senior manager at tax consulting firm Deloitte & Touche advised, “You should check the state where you’ve lived and last resided.”

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Treasurer will help public seek unclaimed property - Peoria Journal Star
Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias wants to return lost, forgotten and abandoned money to Chillicothe-area residents. A representative from Giannoulias office will conduct Cash Dash searches on the states online database from 2 to 6 p.m …

Millions in unclaimed cash awaits rightful owners - Caspar Star-Tribune
The state could be holding on to cash that actually belongs to you. More than $30 million in orphaned funds is waiting to be claimed by its rightful owners — so much money in fact that a division of state government is dedicated to overseeing the …

State has more than $30 million in unclaimed money - Idaho8.com
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The states Unclaimed Property Division is holding more than $30 million in unclaimed money. Nancy Russell, director of the Unclaimed Property Division, a branch of the state treasurers office, says the money can come from …

Unclaimed lottery winnings keep piling up - Green Bay Press-Gazette
Amid the get-rich-quick buying frenzy over large lotto jackpots in Wisconsin is the sobering statistic that millions of dollars in player winnings are unclaimed every year. During an 11-year period ending on June 30, 2008, $38,349,659 in lotto prizes …

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The state of WA has spawned some of the world wide web’s biggest names. Even Bill Gates, the United States’ richest man, hails from Medina, WA and his company, Microsoft, is based in Redmond. Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com and Marchex also make WA their home. The fact then that more than one and a half million residents are owed more than 700 million dollars in unclaimed money in WA State is ironic, sense searching for unclaimed property and money can be done on the web from the comfort of their bedroom or the local Starbucks.

According to the WA State Dept. Of Revenue web site, typical unclaimed money includes abandoned insurance proceeds, bank accounts, bonds, stocks, safe deposit box contents, mutual funds, uncashed payroll, utility and phone company deposits, traveler’s checks, insurance, and other financial assets. Unclaimed property doesn’t include most tangible assets such as vehicles and real estate. State Law requires insurance companies, banks, credit unions, government entities, retailers, corporations, and utilities to turn WA unclaimed property and money over to the state if their owners can not be located after three to five years (depending on the item). The State’s Unclaimed Property Law states: “State law protects unclaimed property until it can be returned. There is no time limit for filing a claim and rightful owners or their heirs can claim property reported since 1955. The state may auction the content of safe deposit boxes, however, if not claimed within five years.”

WA was the very first state to have a streamlined system for claiming lost property and money. As a matter of fact, the WA State Dept. of Revenue recently received the Award for Outstanding Management and Organizational Initiative for its ‘Unclaimed Property E-Claim System’. The amount waiting to be reunited with their owners still exceeds 500 million dollars however, despite the unclaimed money program being implemented to seek out more owners of WA unclaimed money and that makes claiming easier for them.

The problem may lie in a handful of factors - the fast paced lifestyle we live in today, the idea people have that piles of paperwork are necessary when dealing with the government, and plain disbelief. The more people jump from spouse to spouse (changing last names), jump from job to job, change addresses, the more likely they are going to lose track of some of their financial assets like inheritances from a relative that had passed away or tax refunds from the IRS. Even people who are aware of the possibility that they could have unclaimed money in WA and other states might not bother performing a search at all thinking it’s not worth the effort.

The Unclaimed Property Division collects more than 55 million dollars in lost or abandoned assets each year in WA State and that amount snowballs with each passing year. Study up on all the various ways to search, how often to search, and where to search and get started finding money you could have coming ASAP! Who knows? For once, the government could owe you money this time instead of the other way around.

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Senate OKs keeping execution policies secret - Pine Bluff Commercial
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The states proposed $4.5 billion budget for the upcoming year and a plan to use a third of a $300 million surplus to fill funding gaps are headed toward their first votes before lawmakers. Members of the Joint Budget Committee …

IRS offers tips for last-minute filers - Nevada Daily Mail Sunday Nevada Herald
If you are among the estimated 1.4 million Kansans and 2.9 million Missourians who havent filed your federal tax return, the IRS offers some tips to avoid the last-minute rush for doing your taxes. Dont Procrastinate. Resist the temptation to put …

Arkansas panel advances major budget measures (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
Arkansas lawmakers on Friday advanced the state’s $4.5 billion budget for the upcoming year and a plan to use a third of the state’s $300 million projected surplus to fill in funding gaps.

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According to Sarah Steelman, Missouri unclaimed money recently grew to the huge sum of $400 million. This mountain of cash is likely to grow, because as with most states, MO takes in more unclaimed money each year than is returned to the citizens. Among the number of reasons why these funds continue to go unclaimed, is the fact that most people aren’t aware of unclaimed money, and the few that are don’t know the correct way to search.

As we see MO unclaimed money numbers approaching a half of $1 billion, the “Show Me State” ought to change its name to the “Show Me The Money State”. So where does all that money come from? There are quite a number of different sources for unclaimed money, a few of the most common are safe deposit boxes, certificates of deposit, abandoned bank accounts, life insurance policies, forgotten stocks, and checks that have not been cashed.

Despite the fact that there isn’t a time limit on claiming forgotten funds, MO only guarantees that they will hold items from safe deposit boxes for 1 year (though they do occassionally hold on to them for longer). According to the MO State Treasury web site, this is how they handle these assets: “Although State Treasurer Steelman would like to keep the contents of safe deposit boxes until an owner or heir is identified, the unclaimed property vault used to store non-monetary items of value (jewelry, coins, etc.) reaches capacity every couple of years. When the vault is full, the Unclaimed Property Division hosts an auction, and the proceeds generated from the sale of items from safe deposit boxes is recorded in the name of the safe deposit box owner. If owners or heirs are identified, they receive the entire proceeds from the sale of the items.”

It’s clear that for those citizens who use (or have used) a safe deposit box, it is very important to get started on your search quickly if the items have a sentimental value to you, but worst case scenario is that you will get the proceeds if your items sell. Luckily for the rest of us, most of the money doesn’t come from unclaimed property auctions.

Whether you are a former or current MO resident, or even in some cases, haven’t ever resided in MO at all, the odds that lost money is owed to you, are in your favor. Of course the awesome part about money derived from unclaimed money is that the assets already rightfully belongs to people. This means there are no games or gambling involved. The only thing keeping missing cash from turning in to found cash, for most people, is the knowledge about how to search, and where to search.

A number of myths exist about unclaimed money. The most common is the idea that performing just one internet search on any old web site constitutes a full search. The problem is most of these “official” searches, are anything but, and their info is quite often not current if not completely wrong, and only serves as a sales hook. One of the other most common myths is the idea that the state’s databases are up to date and accurate.

There is not a single law that dictates when each state, including MO, has to update their unclaimed money databases. Because of this, one of the best things people can do is search regularly. If your money has only been determined to be “unclaimed” recently, it likely wouldn’t appear in MO’s system until it is first been handed over by the account holder, and then whenever the state treasury office adds the record.

To learn more about these unclaimed money search obstacles, and a number of others, and it is important to seek out expert assistance in your quest for forgotten funds, to ensure that you reclaim all possible cash owed to you.

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Looking for some more money? You might just find it here - Grand Rapids Press
UNCLAIMED PROPERTY Below are the five highest unclaimed property claims for Genesee County, including name of the individual (some of whom may be deceased) or business name, last known city of residence or place of business, the account holder and …

Boosting WVs Prepaid Tuition Program Save Email Print - WHSV
West Virginias attempt to help parents get a head start on their childrens college tuition could soon get an $8 million boost. A bill passed unanimously Tuesday to the Senate by the House would allow the state treasurer to transfer that sum from …

Police auction earns money for Cobham basketballers - Surrey Comet
Unclaimed lost property has been auctioned off by Surrey Police and put towards improving a basketball area for children in Cobham. Ken Purssey, from Cobham and Downside Residents’ Association, was delighted with the £1,500 donation, which will be …

Money may be waiting for Hoosiers who didnt file 2005 tax return - Palladium-Item
Indiana residents who did not file a 2005 federal tax return are encouraged to do so by April 15. Money could be waiting for you. About 26,000 Hoosier taxpayers are owed a total of $24 million in unclaimed refunds from the Internal Revenue Service …

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