What You Need to Know About Unclaimed Property

According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), there is over $10 billion held by the states in unclaimed property. Banks, businesses, government agencies and other entities are still holding onto this amount, which is owned by about 26 million people in the United States. There is no reason to give up claims on this property as you can still recover it from your state government. In fact, many state governments have made detection and recovery of unclaimed property much easier with online access to property databases and also online claim forms. This is aimed at providing you with information about unclaimed property and links to all available online state property recovery resources.

Unclaimed property can be any financial asset or amount of money that appears to have been abandoned by the owner. Some examples are un-cashed dividend, payroll or cashier's checks; stocks certificates or accounts, bonds, mutual fund accounts; life insurance policy proceeds; utility deposits, credit balances, store refunds; wages; checking and savings accounts; gift certificates; traveler's checks; safe deposit boxes; royalty payments; and court payments or deposits. Unclaimed property is mostly owned by those who have retired, been reassigned, or laid off from a job; not made a transaction on their checking or savings account for over three years; stopped payments on an insurance policy; moved without leaving a forwarding address; or, who often throw away your mail without reading it.

Remember that no agency or employee of the United States Federal Government can assist you in the recovery of unclaimed property. It is the states that handle the reporting and collection of unclaimed property and each state has its own methods for finding and reclaiming unclaimed property.

Once you find that you may have unclaimed property, you are required to send to the state, either via an online form or regular mail, complete information about yourself so that they can verify if you really own the property. As minimum requirements, you have to inform the state your complete legal name including middle initial or name, maiden name, Jr., Sr., III, etc., or the exact name of your business; your Social Security Number or Federal Employer Identification Number in the case of a business; your current and/or previous street and city addresses in the state and city; and a daytime phone number. When the state has verified your ownership of the unclaimed property, they will send you a claim form. You should read all of the instructions with the form, sign and date the form, attach all requested documentation and mail the form back to the state. Some states deduct a minimal handling fee on claims, usually no more that 1 - 1.5 percent of the value of the claim.

There are many property search firms that can search for unclaimed property on your behalf. Although most of them are honest and offer good services, you should be careful about a few unscrupulous firms that have already found unclaimed property in your name and want to charge you to recover it. In many states, search firms and heir finders have to be licensed or registered and there are legal limits on how large a percentage of the value of the claimed property they can charge. Better check with the unclaimed property department before signing a contract with a property search firm.