Archive for May, 2009

Did you ever wonder what happens to abandoned bank accounts and other financial assets whose owners (and relatives of the original owners) can’t be found? The Unclaimed Property Law requires financial institutions and businesses to pass them along to the government after a certain ‘dormancy period’. These assets will remain in the hands of the State Treasury until the rightful owners claim them. The law also requires states to make efforts in getting the lost money back to their rightful owners. Some states show more efficiency than others when it comes to this and the state of West Virginia regularly places among the nation’s top 10 in rate of return, according to a recent statement by the State’s Treasury Department.

Jubilant West Virginia Residents all over the state have been getting unclaimed money checks from financial assets they forgot about at some point in time . In Harrison County, a total of $193,563 has been given back to a handful of residents of the state in less than three weeks - this according to a recent report. In Beckley, a total of $220 thousand in West Virginia unclaimed money checks were handed out, and an elderly South Charleston woman was given $23,000 worth of United States Savings Bonds that were in her deceased sister’s name. “To receive $23,000 that you basically didn’t know existed is quite nice,” said Anne McConihay. “I had heard things about those bonds through the years but never saw any of them.” stated the 84-year-old McConihay who had also owned bonds purchased by her father but does not exactly recall what happened to them. “Ms. McConihay’s situation is a perfect example of why states should be given the responsibility of returning these bonds,” noted State Treasurer Perdue. “This money belongs to people, not the federal government. And states already have the systems and expertise in place to complete this mission.”

After receiving $117,000 from the State Treasury Office, Andy Bragg, of Southern West Virginia Paving said, “We were very surprised when the State Treasurer’s office called and told us they might have some unclaimed property that belonged to us.”

Despite efforts of award winning West Virginia State Treasurer John Perdue to give back missing money that belong to his state’s residents however, there is still roughly $110 million waiting to be discovered in West Virginia alone.

The West Virginia unclaimed money total is so massive for the same reasons the nationwide unclaimed money from lost assets has amassed to over $33 billion. According to State Treasurer John Perdue, unclaimed money can arrive from a variety of sources - mainly because people just plain forgot about them. “They may have a paycheck coming to them that they didn’t realize or some stock their grandparents purchased when they were a child and it was forgotten in a safety deposit box,” Perdue says. “There are all kinds of unclaimed property examples where money was forgotten.”

No matter the reason, residents of ‘The Mountain State’ always need to do an unclaimed money search in West Virginia and other states. The easiest and most convenient way is to do this online with the assistance of a legitimate unclaimed money expert who can show you the proper methods of doing thorough and effective searches for your unclaimed money as well as pre-escheat properties (lost assets that have not yet been handed over to the state).

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Solutions: Residents could have unclaimed property - Hanford Sentinel
(Editor’s note: This week’s Solutions section, starting on Page A5, is a goldmine of suggestions on how to make or save money. Make crafts and sell them, for one thing. Scale back on your vacation and take a hike. And when all else fails, here’s how …

Free money? Get your unclaimed treasure - KGO
BURLINGAME, CA (KGO) — The state could be holding money that should be in your pocket. It could even be holding a family heirloom. There are some big changes happening at the state’s unclaimed property division. Springtime in Burlingame seemed like …

Single parents struggle to get past due child support - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
While many Florida families struggle to pay bills, the state is sitting on $28 million in child-support payments — largely because it says it can’t find the parents owed the money. Florida’s stockpile of undistributed child-support payments has more …

Lumberton woman indicted on theft charges (Burlington County Times)
TRENTON - A former clerk with the state Division of Taxation was indicted Monday for stealing unclaimed funds in 2006, the state Attorney General’s Office announced.

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Believe it or not, the mainland states are not the only ones getting a piece of the multi-billion dollar unclaimed funds bonanza. Hawaii unclaimed money has now reached the huge amount of 130 million dollars! The best thing is, this money isn’t a gamble, citizens are either due a claim or they are not, and if they are, the only obstacle standing between them and their lost cash is the knowledge of how to locate the money.

Of the dozens of potential sources of HI unclaimed funds, the Department of Budget and Finance lists the most common varieties as contents of safe deposit boxes, stock certificates, uncashed checks, and dormant (no activity for 5 years) checking and savings accounts.

HI continues to have a huge amount of money remaining unclaimed due to the fact that people simply have not accepted the reality of unclaimed funds. Too often people assume missing money is a scam, based on the old “there’s no such thing as free money” so many times. Among those few who are aware of these forgotten funds, most are not informed about the right way to perform a complete search for them.

Even for those few who have been able to track down their funds, the state of HI has them jumping through so many hoops to prove they are who they say they are, that they are very often left not reunited with their money, despite the fact that they know that it’s there. HI insists that owners of unclaimed funds to have a number of identifying documents as evidence that they are the rightful owners of the cash, and to prove that they in fact lived at the last known addresses listed in the records they have on file. The moral of the story is that if you are attempting to take back lost money in HI, keep records as diligently as possible, or the process of taking your money back might be more of a headache than it’s worth.

Aside from having a hard time proving their identities to the state, citizens of HI have a number of problems that can inhibit their unclaimed asset searches. For example, most Hawaiian’s who have previously resided in any other state usually do not realize that the state of HI would have absolutely no record of any lost funds from any other state. So if someone living in HI once resided in Ohio, they would need to search Ohio’s records, or the records of any other state they’d resided in.

Beyond just reaching outside of the Hawaiian Islands to track down money owed to them, a lot of people still have trouble finding their money because they simply do not know how to go about their search within the state. One of the largest problems is that people often search only one time and then never revisit the matter again. The issue with doing this, is the fact that any monies that have notbeen handed over to the state, because their dormancy periods have not expired, will not show up in any state records, because the state does not have any idea that they exist. Many times even after the assets have been handed over, the state hasn’t added the listing to their unclaimed funds list, so once again, a state record search would be fruitless. In both of these cases, a searcher could try to search the next day, week or month, and find their record, but the majority of people just quit after a single search.

For more tips on overcoming issues that often prevent searchers from claiming their unclaimed funds, Hawaiian citizens would benefit greatly from seeking help from an unclaimed funds expert to aid them traveling through the maze of taking back what already belongs to them.

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Could the state of Missouri have your money or property? - KSDK
KSDK — It is being called “Missouri’s Largest Lost and Found.” Tuesday morning, Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel is set to open up a number of recently acquired safe deposit boxes in Jefferson City. This is to let Missourians know they may …

Mo. Seeks Unclaimed Property Owners - KCTV 5
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — From cash to collectibles, if someone has left it behind in a safety deposit box, the state of Missouri has got it. “We found a safety deposit box, and the only thing in it was a ski mask, a gun and a change of clothes …

Palmetto Payback: Millions still unclaimed - WIS-TV
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Who couldn’t use some extra money these days? If you think you’re owed cash, then now is the time to find out. The state Treasurer’s office has put together the “Palmetto Payback” program to help find the owners of millions of …

States Have Millions in Unclaimed Property (KSHB-TV Kansas City)
The Missouri State Treasurer says much of it is cash and other valuables in old safe deposit boxes. Find out if it could be yours.

Top 25 properties in Cass County part of Great Iowa Treasure Hunt - Atlantic News-Telegraph
It’s not that time of year to see who’s naughty or nice, but State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald has made a list and has checked it twice to see who has the top 25 unclaimed properties in Cass county. The spring publication of the Great Iowa …

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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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Unclaimed property returned - WOWT
Thousands of Nebraskans have millions of dollars effectively collecting dust in the state’s accounts. State Treasurer Shane Osborn wants to return all of the money to the rightful owners. It’s not every day a politician shows up at your door, rarer …

Judge rules deposit money should go to state (Connecticut Post)
HARTFORD — Beer and soda distributors Thursday will have to turn over $6 million, following a Superior Court ruling Wednesday that unclaimed nickel deposits are the property of the state.

Lost fortune? Or is $87.2 million just unclaimed? - Philiy.com
If it was me, I’d be in a rush to get my money. It’s more than $46 million in cash. Or $87 million-plus spread out in 30 yearly payments. Either way, no time like as soon as possible for getting rich. Am I right? Sure, you take your time to find a …

Pa. Treasury Releases Unclaimed Property List - WJAC TV
Unbeknownst to many state residents, the Pennsylvania State Treasury coffers may have some of their money. Friday, the Treasury Department released the names of people statewide who have money due to them that has never been claimed. The money could …

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Usually when people think of the state of Idaho, what comes to mind? Potatoes of course. Lots and lots of potatoes. But there is also a huge pile of something else that you might say is “no small potatoes” - Idaho unclaimed money. Idaho’s lost money fund has swollen to a whopping $40 million and counting and all of this cash belongs to residents wise enough to locate it and claim it.

The majority of people find it difficult to believe that average Idaho citizens have somehow just abandoned $40 million, and that Americans across the nation have abandoned almost $40 billion (yes, with a “b”, billion), but believe it or not, the odds that any given person is owed unclaimed property are better than the odds that they are not due a claim. The main reason for this is that these missing monies come from so many different sources. According to the web site of the Idaho State Tax Commission, the dept. charged with handling these assets: “These include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank accounts, uncashed payroll checks, utility deposits, traveler’s checks, contents from deposit boxes, and more. Most of the assets are ones that people didn’t know they had or just forgot about, and sometimes they are worth thousands of dollars.”

In order for money to be considered abandoned or “unclaimed”, it has to lie dormant for a period of time that is specific to each type of asset and state. Idaho considers most kinds abandoned after five years of dormancy, though many are available for claiming after only one year.

There are a handful of reasons why assets may go unclaimed, but it’s generally simple as forgetting to leave a forwarding address for financial institutions or previous employers. If a piece of mail is sent back to the sender, and the rightful owner does not contact the sending party within the dormancy period, the holder is required by law to hand the funds over to the state.

The issue Idaho has, as do all other states, is reuniting lost money with its true owners. Despite state awareness efforts and popular media coverage, the majority of people are still just not aware of unclaimed property. Even the few that are in the know generally do not have a clue where to start their search. There are a number of people out there searching, but even those people do not know all the tactics they need to utilize to increase their odds of locating claims.

For the reasons stated above, Idaho is now holding over $40 million in unclaimed property, and that number will almost certainly grow, because more and more money is handed over to the state each year and it outpaces the amounts returned to the citizens. For this reason, it’s extremely important that people who are interested in looking for missing monies, learn how expert finders find these monies, and then put these same tactics in to action in their own attempts. There are right ways to search, and wrong ways to search, and until people learn the difference there are a number of hurdles that can get between them and their money.

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Could the state of Missouri have your money or property? (KSDK St. Louis)
Could the state of Missouri have your money or property?

State Returns Safety Deposit Box Items - KCTV 5
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — From cash to collectibles, if someone has left it behind in a safety deposit box, the state of Missouri has got it. “We found a safety deposit box, and the only thing in it was a ski mask, a gun and a change of clothes …

$14m in unclaimed money - IRD (Stuff)
Over 15,000 people are owed more than $14 million in unclaimed money, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) says. There were 15,200 people who were owed a total of $14,427,789, IRD customer operations group manager, Heather Daly said.

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The state of California’s unclaimed money program takes in about $300 million each year. Why does it matter to you? Well, if you or anyone you know is or was a resident of the Golden State (or ever had any type of business dealings, whether you knew it or not), part of that massive pile of CA forgotten funds could easily be yours!

Under the CA unclaimed property (or escheat) law, abandoned assets like forgotten savings and checking accounts, cash and stock dividends, mineral deposits, uncashed checks and money orders, state of California unclaimed tax refunds, salary checks, gift certificates, and other assets are handed over to the Treasury Department if their owners don’t come for them within a given time period. This ‘dormancy period’ varies widely from state to state, but in CA it is three years. These unclaimed monies then get moved to the CA unclaimed property division, where they stay in the state’s general fund until they are returned to the rightful owners. This is where state employees who handled CA unclaimed cash were criticized recently. Seems that they were eager to track down and take hold of the lost assets from the various establishments holding them but showed less interest in contacting the owners in the CA unclaimed money list.

One of the primary reasons for the government’s inability give back forgotten money to its owners, they say, is that they can not be tracked down. The problem is, would would ever think that people like ZsaZsa Gabor, Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Gerri Halliwell, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Sandler and Marlon Brando would be difficult to track down? Those names and the names of a number of other celebrities are just a few of the names in the CA missing money database but they have not been contacted by the employees at the California Unclaimed Funds Division. They are all owed checks for unclaimed money by CA amounting from hundreds to the thousands in Ms. Jolie’s case. This just shows CA state officials’ interest in keeping this money in the general fund for them to balance the budget deficits for as long as they can. In fact, there was a recent ruling by a judge on CA abandoned cash, saying that the state wasn’t trying hard enough to locate the rightful owners and for a while halted the ability of the state to take and hold it until a new policy of returning it to the actual owners was adopted.

The total dollar amount for these funds in California averages five billion dollars annually - just imagine how much interest this accrues for the state! Sacramento attorney Bill Palmer who has battled in numerous cases involving California unclaimed money, has said that the state’s program was intended to be a lost and found of sorts for Californians. Sadly, it was turned into a profit generating ‘business’ in the past few years.

The ban on the taking of property by California has since been removed and the new California State Controller, John Chiang, is making extra efforts in the form of widespread changes in improving how his office deals with California unclaimed money. There is still a great need though for Californians and Americans in all states across the U.S. to learn about the presence of these properties and on how to do a thorough search for them and take back what belongs to them.

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IRD makes list of people owed money - NZCity
Thousands of people could be better off than they thought, because of unclaimed money being held by the taxman. The IRD has released an online list of 15,200 people, all of whom are due a pay-out. Between them they are owed $14,427,789, most of which …

$14m in unclaimed money - IRD - Stuff
Over 15,000 people are owed more than $14 million in unclaimed money, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) says. There were 15,200 people who were owed a total of $14,427,789, IRD customer operations group manager, Heather Daly said. The names were …

Indiana Unclaimed (Indiana’s NewsCenter)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) - Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller was in Fort Wayne today to remind Hoosiers to collect unclaimed funds.

Forgotten Funds: Check For Unclaimed Cash - MSNBC
There may be a check with your name on it, just waiting to be claimed. What could the cash be from? Unclaimed money and property, refund checks that weren’t cashed, money from bank accounts that weren’t closed out properly and items in abandoned …

Is unclaimed cash waiting for you? - ABC Action News
TAMPA BAY, FL — We’re all trying to ring up less at the register and cut back. Wife and mother Dee Carmichael is no different. “Because you never know if you could be the next one that has a spouse that may lose his job,” she said. Mark …

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