More often than not, the phrase “free money” is often followed by the word “scam.” But in at least one case, it’s not too good to be true — unclaimed property. By law, states have to hold onto financial accounts that haven’t had contact with the owner in over a year, and the amount at stake is tens of billions of dollars. It’s in the form of long-forgotten bank accounts, store credit, cashiers’ checks, security deposits, IRS refunds and more.

Here’s how to search for your own unclaimed property: Head to both MissingMoney.com and Unclaimed.org to conduct a search for any state you’ve ever lived or worked in. In the search results, you should see the last known address for the money’s rightful owner, the company reporting the funds and sometimes an estimation of the amount. If the address and the reporting company look familiar to you, go ahead and request your funds.

You’ll need to input information like your full name and Social Security number, and once you submit a claim, it could take up to 12 weeks to process.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/334220

1 in 5 state residents have unclaimed funds, CFO says

Think of it as a treasure hunt, but one that you can do from your cell phone or computer screen. And one that can give your bank account a boost this holiday season.

The state of Florida is holding more than $2 billion in unclaimed property waiting for rightful owners to come forward and take what belongs to them. Of that, more than $835 million is right here in South Florida, the state’s CFO Jimmy Patronis says.

To be precise, there’s $503,124,576 sitting unclaimed in Miami-Dade County, $319,252,342 in Broward and $13,230,797 in Monroe.

This unclaimed property can be the result of bank accounts left dormant, unclaimed insurance proceeds, stocks, refunds, or even abandoned safe deposit boxes.

So, how do you check to see if any of this money belongs to you?

Head over to fltreasurehunt.gov and plug in your info to search.

One in five Floridians has unclaimed funds from a forgotten financial account, the state says, and it’s free to claim it.

“Currently, the Miami area holds more than $835 million in unclaimed property and now is the perfect time to search to see if you or your business has unclaimed property in Florida,” Patronis said in a news release. “With the holiday season being an expensive time of year, we could all use a little extra spending money. This year has been a very difficult year for most, and my goal in doing this is to spread a little holiday cheer by helping Floridians find cash they didn’t know they had.”

Patronis says that since he took office in 2017, the state has returned more than $1 billion of this money to residents.

About $323 million was paid out last year.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/11/24/florida-is-holding-2-billion-in-unclaimed-money-check-if-any-of-it-is-yours/

Billions of dollars worth of unclaimed funds sit in Columbus, Frankfort, Indianapolis, and other state capitals and you might be the rightful owner of some of it.

Akil Hardy, who leads the Ohio Division of Unclaimed Funds, says banks and businesses have dumped a whopping $279 million into the fund this fiscal year after striking out trying to find the rightful owners. Of that, only $54 million has been claimed despite the pandemic causing a need for many.

“We thought we would see a lot more claims come through our door,” Hardy said. “It just sits there until the rightful owners come to claim the money.”

The money sits in an interest-bearing account. Other items, including rare coins, and the contents of entire safe deposit boxes, are stored in a safe at the Department of Commerce. They are held there in perpetuity until someone claims them.

“We get stamps, postcards,” Hardy said. “Poker chips that somebody put in the box from when they were in Vegas. We’ve seen gold bars.”

Other items include a Vatican coin from the Sistine Chapel, a sterling silver set of U.S. presidential medallions, a USSR commemorative coin from the Battle of Stalingrad, and a dollar bill from 1886. The division of unclaimed funds has been on a mission to get the word out.

“Every little bit counts,” Hardy said. “We’ve had someone claim as much as two million dollars.”

Cities, municipalities, and school districts have unclaimed funds as well. FOX19 NOW Investigates filed public records requests asking for specific dollar amounts that tri-state municipalities and districts can potentially claim. The city of Hamilton had at least $5,000 worth of unclaimed funds. The city of Middletown had at least $1,300. The Lakota Local School District had more than $3,500.

Hardy says the division’s largest-ever payout, $3.4 million, went to the city of Elyria in the Cleveland area. He says he is grateful to be able to help, “We are returning money to people that could honestly change their lives. For some people it allows people to put gas in the tank and food on the table. For some other folks, like we had an individual who used the money to purchase their first house.”

https://www.fox19.com/2021/05/26/states-have-billions-unclaimed-funds-some-it-may-be-yours/

Were you aware that the state of Connecticut currently has $868,786,336 in unclaimed property?

Even if you don’t think Connecticut has any cash or property that belongs to you, you can easily find out. For example, I was surprised to find that the credit union I once belonged to owed me over $100.

Why is it when you owe money, you’re inundated with phone calls and in some cases, debt collecting services doing everything they can to make sure you pay up. But when you’re owed money and don’t know it, good luck trying to track it done.

https://i95rock.com/ct-has-over-800-million-in-unclaimed-propertymoney-some-may-be-yours/

Many local cities, towns and counties are hurting for money these days, so why aren’t they collecting easy money?

Every year thousands of New Yorkers find money in their name on the NYS Comptroller’s unclaimed funds website. But we found many local governments are not always cashing in on the unclaimed cash.

The city of Schenectady is listed multiple times on the unclaimed funds website – we asked Mayor Gary McCarthy about that and he said while he wasn’t aware of the current listings, the city does check the site at some point every year. He says they have cashed in on funds in the past.

Albany County also has a number of listings. County Executive Dan McCoy says he’d be thrilled if the county can collect some of that money. He says at times county officials have checked the website, but the funds listed aren’t always actually county money. He didn’t elaborate.

You can find listings for the NYS Senate and Assembly on the site, and multiple listings for the Governor.

Other notables who have unclaimed funds coming their way – Mick Jagger, Jeff Bezos, John Grisham and Andre Agassi.

https://cbs6albany.com/news/you-paid-for-it/ypfi-counties-cities-towns-leaving-money-on-the-table

Millions of dollars is just sitting there and some of it could be yours. Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity says her office has located $110 million in money and valued items belonging to current and past residents of Bucks County.

“How lucky are you feeling?” asked FOX 29’s Shawnette Wilson.

“I’m pretty good on scratch cards,” said Ryan Stewart.

In a matter of seconds, Shawnette figured out that Ryan’s luck begins and ends at scratch offs.

Krystal Dischinger gave it a try as well.

“Basically the state announced there is $100M in unclaimed money available to residents and they’re trying to get that money back to people,” Shawnette explained.

We got her to check the state website.

“No. Nothing. Nothing was found,” said Dischinger.

Will the third time be the charm?

“My name comes up. It says the holder is Aetna Life Insurance Company under $100,” said Jackie Reinhart.

This could be you too.

“One out of 10 Pennsylvanians have unclaimed property and the average claim is about $2,000s. It could be from a dormant bank account, it could be from a property, tangible items for a state deposit box, a police evidence room, colleges, or nursing homes. It could be an old retirement account from a job they had years ago,” said Garrity.

She says this is a perfect time to find money.

“We have so many people out of work and so many small businesses that really have been hurt through this pandemic,” she said.

It’s easy. All you have to do is search the PA Treasury website. You can search any state.

If you searched the site and it turns up nothing there may still be something in it for you. The county is also getting a hefty check that may help the community.

Treasurer Garrity made the announcement about unclaimed money recently on a visit to Doylestown where she presented a check to county officials.

Bucks County also had unclaimed money.

“We’re in discussion to possibly benefit the children of the county, maybe funnel it back into our children and youth, possibly mental health area of drug and alcohol,” said Kris Ballerini.

She’s the Bucks County Treasurer who located the lost funds and worked with the state to get them back.

“It took about six months to diligently look up misspellings, departments and different addresses. It can happen for example if we issue a check to pay a bill and they are now are going to refund us. We’ve overpaid in this case. But then the check goes to the wrong address, or the wrong department and it never cashes. Then after a certain amount of time you send it up to the state as unclaimed funds,” said Ballerini.

She says one of the larger amounts found will go back to the county retirement fund for county employees.

“It was quite a payday for sure,” she said.

https://www.fox29.com/news/feeling-lucky-pennsylvania-officials-working-to-return-millions-in-unclaimed-cash

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed a bill into law Tuesday designed to help Nevadans retrieve their unclaimed property more easily and more quickly.

The Office of the State Treasurer’s unclaimed property fund holds nearly $1 billion in abandoned money. Under state statute, the treasurer’s office takes control of the funds until they can be returned to their owner. Unclaimed property includes uncashed or deposited checks, abandoned bank accounts and other so-called missing money. There is no charge.

The law, which was titled Senate Bill 71 in the Legislature, allows the state treasurer’s office to start an unclaimed property claim on a person’s behalf, rather than a person initiating the claim. The office began doing this in a pilot setting at the beginning of the pandemic to help people find any money that could help them.

“I am proud to sign Senate Bill 71, which will ensure that thousands of Nevadans can quickly receive funds that are rightfully owed to them,” Sisolak said in a statement. “The changes in this bill will go a long way to making sure Nevadans who need a little extra help can more easily receive their unclaimed property.”

Together, the treasurer’s office and DETR returned more than $2 million to people who were affected by the pandemic, the governor said.

Last year, the office returned nearly $50 million.

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/are-you-owed-money-nevadas-unclaimed-property-list-holds-nearly-1-billion-governor-eases-process-with-new-law/