Free Money May Be Out There Waiting for You!

Free money May be out there waiting for you. Wouldn't you enjoy the chance to put a couple hundred extra bucks in your pocket? Perhaps even a couple of thousand. I know you would. The best part of the whole thing is that it is all your money anyway and it only takes a little bit of effort to see if it is out there.

How much is really out there?

To put it simply, a lot. There are billions out there in unclaimed money. Money that could be yours, just waiting for pickup. The question isn't why find out, the question is why wouldn't you?

Where does this money come from?

Bonds that were never cashed in for a certain period, refunds of all sorts when the companies or government cannot find you, pensions contents of safe deposit boxes, overpays or refunds on utility bills and much more. It might not even be "yours" If you have a relative who has deceased they may very well have asset's that were not in the will that still need to be collected. The money stays there indefinitely. There is no period after which it becomes the "governments" property.

How can you find if you have missing money?

The best way is to check specific states. If you resided in a state or have deceased relatives that resided in a state look at each stated unclaimed property database individually. It is usually only a matter of filling in the name and hitting "enter" nothing hard to it. If you want an even easier but not as thorough method you can also try http://www.missingmoney.com the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators has a website there that is 100% free to try to help you in locating your money.

Two notes on that: 1. Not every state gives them their information. At the time of this writing only about 40 of the 50 states supply this site with information. 2. Some state also not pass over all information, they have different rules on what information will be given to this website, so again, it is often best to check with the individual states.

You have money, now how do you get it?

If you have money to claim each state will have its own claim form that you will need to fill out. Usually you will have to show some documentation that you are who you say you are. Once you have done that it is a simple matter to fill out the claim form and either mail or email it in. (depending on the state)

In these tough economic times, why wouldn't you want 'free money'?

If it is there, it is yours, so get it back. A couple hundred unexpected dollars is always a pleasant thing. Just a final word of warning: There are many unscrupulous companies on the internet that will claim to do a lot more, but are only running through the steps above. No reason to spend money on this process when it is free.

As a note to show you how effective it can be. I was in the military so I moved a lot. I had some mutual funds from when I joined that I lost track of for a few years. I found these in the California database and about a month later (stocks and bonds are a little tricky for them to resolve) I got a nearly 4000 dollar check I hadn't really been expecting. Not bad if you ask me.Will Money be There?

That is tough to say. If you have moved a few times or had a name change or even had a family member pass away or numerous other things like that it is highly likely that some payment could have missed you and be waiting for you. If none of those have happened and you do not know of any missing payments, the chances are far less likely. But it is all worth the few minutes it takes to find out, worst case is that there is no money, and best case can be a very nice, "find" of some "free" money.