How You Can Find Unclaimed Wealth - Part 1 MONEY WITH YOUR NAME ON IT?
Money that belongs to you may be sitting in a state or other
government unclaimed property office, just waiting for you to claim it.
Unclaimed property offices and state escheators ("escheat" means to pass to
the state) currently hold several billion dollars of "lost money" belonging to
millions of people. The Internal Revenue Service alone holds $340 million
dollars in un-cashed tax refund checks.
Read on and learn how you can find out - at no cost - whether there is
unclaimed property belonging to you, and how to claim that property.
People Lose Money?
Most unclaimed money and property becomes abandoned as a result
of a change of address (the owner moved), a name change (the owner got
married or divorced), or death of the owner (the estate was unaware of the
money or the heirs could not be located). Sometimes the owner knows about
the asset, but is unaware that it has been declared abandoned and turned over
to the state.
For example, here are a few of the most common means by which you
could "misplace" your money and not even know about it:
a.) Perhaps you moved and forgot to claim your security deposit.
b.) Maybe the utility company owed you a refund check or a refund of your
deposit, and you forgot to inform them of your new address.
c.) Could it be that the dividend checks from your stock or mutual fund
have been going to the wrong address?
d.) Perhaps you moved your money to a new bank, but forgot about an
account or safe deposit box you left with the old bank. Or maybe you left a
little money in the checking account to be safe, and forgot about it.
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e.) Maybe you have a certificate of deposit with a bank that has seen no
activity for five years. If you let it roll over and ignore the bank's mail, it
could be declared abandoned.
f.) Perhaps a long lost relative died without a will, and it has taken years for
the courts to settle the estate.
g.) Did a relative die and the insurance company took a while to send the
check for the proceeds of the life insurance policy?
h.) Perhaps you simply forgot about some money owed you.
To prevent your property from getting lost, you should keep an up-todate
list of all your family's assets, including bank accounts, certificates of
deposit, mortgage escrow accounts, retirement accounts (IRA, Keogh, and
401(k)), layaways, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance policies,
security deposits, and safe deposit boxes.
We all should do that but, really, how many of us do?
If you change your name or address, write to the address associated
with each asset to notify them of the change. Likewise, if you regularly
receive insurance benefits or dividends, and the checks stop coming,
promptly notify the company of the problem. Be sure and register a change
of address with your Post Office.
What is Unclaimed Property?
Unclaimed property can include:
Dormant Savings and Checking Accounts and Certificates of Deposit
Safe Deposit Box Contents
Uncashed Money Orders, Cashiers Checks, and Travelers Checks
Uncashed Payroll Checks
Unused Gift Certificates
Oil and Gas Royalty Payments
Uncashed Stock and Mutual Fund Dividends
Stock Certificates
2.
Mineral Royalty Payments
Unclaimed Security Deposits
Utility Deposits
Customer Deposits, Overpayments, Credit Balances, and Refunds
Court Deposits
Unredeemed Gift Certificates
Insurance Payments
Probate Court Judgments
Property Overlooked in the Probate of an Estate
Paid Up Life Insurance Policies
Uncashed Death Benefit Checks and Life Insurance Proceeds
Health and Accident Insurance Payments
HUD/FHA Refunds
…and more.
As an example New York is holding $4.2 billion in over 15 million
separate accounts. Add another $2.6 billion from California, and consider
that together Florida, Massachusetts and Texas contribute $2 billion more ...
well pretty soon it starts to add up to real money!
But this isn't just a "big state" phenomenon. It's happening
everywhere! Minnesota is holding 150,000 accounts. Oklahoma's list of lost
owners consumes 8,268 pages, a stack of paper 2 1/2 feet high!
Even tiny Rhode Island took in $10 million and added 6,000 names in
a single year! And many of these accounts are worth big money. Last year a
Louisiana citizen received a check for $1,026,738.49 and a Texas resident
recently collected $4,251,987.
A conservative estimate is $19 billion waiting to be reclaimed by
eighty million owners. The total is growing by more than $7 million per day
- over $2.5 billion per year - thanks to recent changes in the law. But that's
just what states are holding!
No one knows exactly how many hundreds of billions of dollars more
federal agencies are "safeguarding" but a GAO report said return of the
money would "negatively affect the deficit!" Here's a small sample
Social Security Administration - $478 million (unclaimed 1996 benefit
checks)
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Internal Revenue Service - $340 million (undelivered & uncashed 1996
refunds)
U.S. Postal Service - $26.6 million (dormant 1996 postal money orders)
Bureau of Public Debt - $2.5 billion (matured but unredeemed savings
bonds)
Social Security Administration - $478 million (unclaimed 1996 benefit
checks)
Internal Revenue Service - $340 million (undelivered & uncashed 1996
refunds)
U.S. Postal Service - $26.6 million (dormant 1996 postal
money orders)
Bureau of Public Debt - $2.5 billion (matured but unredeemed savings
bonds)
FDIC - $200 million (unclaimed deposits from failed banks)
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. - $59 million (unpaid 1996 benefits)
HUD - $70 million (Mortgage Insurance Premium refunds/Distributive
Shares)
Federal Bankruptcy Courts - $200 million (unpaid distributions to creditors)
Securities & Exchange Commission - 3 million lost securities accounts
Bureau of Indian Affairs - $450 million (unclaimed trust fund payments)
What Happens To Unclaimed Property?
Every state has unclaimed property laws which declare money,
property, and other assets to be abandoned after a period of inactivity of
three to five years. During this abandonment period landlords, banks,
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utilities, hospitals, brokerage firms, mutual funds, insurance companies, and
other organizations are required to try to return the valuables to their rightful
owners. If they are unsuccessful, they then turn the property over to the
state's abandoned-property division or unclaimed property office.
According to a US Supreme Court decision (Texas vs. New Jersey,
379 US 674, 1965), the unclaimed property is returned to the state of the
property owner's last known address. If no address is known, it is returned to
the state in which the business holding the funds is incorporated.
The unclaimed property office then tries to find the rightful owners,
by placing advertisements in newspapers and trying to trace the owners.
Unfortunately, many states only advertise the new additions to their files.
There is no time limit on claiming your property. Abandoned property
has been reunited with its rightful owners 30, 40, and even 50 years after it
was turned over to the state. Some states have unclaimed property dating to
the late 1800s.
If the owner of the property is deceased, the relatives can file for the
unclaimed property.
How To Find Your Lost Money
So how can you find out if there's money waiting for you? Well, it
takes some looking, but you can do it yourself with the help of this manual.
If you think there might be unclaimed property that belongs to you,
call or write to the unclaimed property office in each state in which you or
your deceased relatives have ever lived. A list of the addresses of state
unclaimed property offices appears below. It is a good idea to check with
these offices every five years, even if you are certain that you haven't lost
any property.
The unclaimed property office will ask for your name (including your
maiden or former names), your Social Security number, current address, and
all previous addresses where you lived while in the state.
5.
They will want the same information about any other individual for
whom you're the legal beneficiary.
The unclaimed property office will use this information to check their
database. If there's a match, they'll send you a form to fill out.
You'll have to provide proof that you are who you say you are (a
photocopy of your driver's license will do) and that you resided at the
address you provided (a bill showing your name at the address or a copy of
your tax return showing the address). You'll have to prove a connection to
the money through a pay stub, bank book, utility bill or similar document.
If money is in someone else's name, you will also have to supply
proof that you're the beneficiary, such as a copy of the deceased's will.
Once you submit the claim form, it should take about two months
before you to get the check.
Even if you don't find any money, you should continue to check with
the unclaimed property offices every few years. Sometimes the money takes
a while before it is turned over to the unclaimed property office.
Should You Pay Finder's Fees
Tracers are professionals who make a living finding the owners of
unclaimed property. They then contact the owners, and offer to help them
locate their unclaimed property for a fee. The fees range from 10% of the
value of the property to as much as 60%. What you get for the fee is
sometimes just the name and address of the state unclaimed property office
that has your property.
If a tracer tells you there's money waiting for you, you can call the
state yourself and get the money without having to pay anybody anything.
States return abandoned property for free.
If the tracer is unwilling to tell you which state has the unclaimed
property, try calling or writing each of the states in the list you find later.
6.
Start first with the states in which you've lived, and the states in which
your deceased relatives lived. Also try the state in which the tracer is
located, since many tracers specialize in tracing their home state's unclaimed
property listings.
Once you know that there is unclaimed property waiting for you in
some state's coffers, it is very easy to file a claim. If all else fails, sending a
postcard to each of the state unclaimed property offices will cost you less
than most finder fees.
If you come up empty-handed, try waiting a year and trying again.
Some tracers buy unclaimed property lists directly from major companies, in
order to get a head start on the state unclaimed property office. (A few states
have passed laws making it illegal to charge finders fees once the unclaimed
property is published on the state's list.)
Of course, you may decide to pay the tracer's fee because it is
convenient. If so, try to negotiate the fee down to 20% or less before signing
any contract. Also ask for information about their guarantees. For example,
in some cases you may already know about the property and were just not
aware that it had been turned over to the state.
Reputable tracers always work on a percentage basis and get paid
after you receive your money, not before. Don't pay any fees in advance.
You should also beware of companies that charge a flat fee for
nothing more than a list of unclaimed property offices.
Many states require search firms and heirfinders to be licensed or
registered and impose legal limits on how large a percentage of the value of
the claimed property they can charge.
The authors were once contacted by an heirfinder with the news that a
relative had died and left them $50,000. That's all they would tell us.
We went to work contacting our relatives near and far and found there
was a distant aunt to had never married and had no close relatives. We
learned she had last been known to be living in Southern California.
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That's all we needed to contact a company that searched public
records in that part of the state. They found where a probate had been filed.
We notified the probate trustee of our connection to the deceased and about
a year later we received a nice fat check - without paying an heirfinder fee.
Federal Unclaimed Property Offices
If you had an old FHA mortgage paid off before November 5, 1990,
you may be due a refund. For more information, call the FHA Support
Service Center at 1-800-697-6967, see the "HUD Get A Refund" search
engine, or write to HUD, Distributive Shares Branch, PO Box 23699,
Washington, DC 20026.
Questions about refunds may be emailed to sf_refunds@hud.gov.
Other materials of interest on the HUD site include FHA Homeowners
Facts: Refunds.
If you just remembered a forgotten bank account, try calling your state
banking commission. If the bank account was at a bank or savings & loan
that went out of business, try calling the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation's Division of Resolutions and Receiverships (DRR) at 1-888206-
4662. They can help you track down the current location of your bank
accounts and reunite you with your funds.
Other Sources of Information
US Savings Bonds
To find out which savings bonds are no longer earning interest:
www.savingsbonds.gov/sav/savstop.htm
For information about lost/missing savings bonds, including
procedures for filing a claim:
www.savingsbonds.gov/sav/sbfaqcs2.htm#Lost
Public Debt's e-mail address for savings bond inquiries:
SavBonds@bpd.treas.gov This document and accompanying materials are designed to provide authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered in it. It is for illustration purposes only and presented with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional opinions. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. |
