Claim Your Missing Money in the National Lost & Found

In State Treasurer, Tax and Controller offices across the country are working to return unclaimed or lost money to its rightful owners. You see, many state laws require banks, insurance companies, and other businesses to turn over assets to the state when a customer has no documented transactions or contact for five years of more. These assets can include the content of safe deposit boxes, cash from bank accounts, stocks and bonds, utility refunds, etc. Individually, the amounts range from pennies to one noted case in New York claiming $1.7 million. All in all, the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators declares that $33 billion in "dead money" remains unclaimed.

Recently, the Missouri State Treasurer's office of Clint Zweifel spent over $656,000 to send post cards to last known addresses and post advertisements in both the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Kansas City Star with a list of these accounts hoping to get the attention of families of those on record with these claims. In the past year, they have been successful in returning $83 million but his office still claims to have over $600 million in unclaimed assets for more than 3.5 million accounts at the end of their fiscal year which was in June. To check if anyone on your family has an account, visit the Missouri State Treasurer's Office website and enter the name of each adult in your family in their search form – particularly those who are diseased or have died within the past 5-10 years.

As mentioned earlier, this is a National situation, so if your loved ones lived outside Missouri, be sure to check their state office as well to see if they have an unclaimed account. This link from Missing Money provides quick access to various offices for your convenience.

If you have any questions about investing any hidden treasures you may find from your family, please contact me and I'd be happy to help! Good Luck!