Back when I started My Dollar Plan, my husband wasn’t into personal finance. As long as he had enough money to do the things he enjoyed he was set.
Ever since then I have seen him slowly developing an appreciation for learning about money. His latest find: an unclaimed bank account in my maiden name from an old address!
CNN featured How to find your hidden money and cited that “There’s almost $33 billion in unclaimed money from old payroll checks, utility refunds, trust distributions, stocks, banking or checking accounts, certificates of deposit and the contents of safe deposit boxes.”
Where to Look for Your Missing Money
To find your missing money there are four agencies to search at:
- National Database of Unclaimed Property and links to States
- Failed Banks with the FDIC
- Lost Savings Bonds from Treasury Department
- Lost Pension Plans from PBGC
How We Lost The Money
During our last couple moves, I took a new approach to changing our address. I noticed that most places have “address service requested” on their envelopes. It means that they will pay to have a notification sent to them if the mail is forwarded. With 181 accounts, I changed only the critical ones and let the rest fend for themselves. It actually worked pretty well, however, clearly at least one that I was holding for an IPO conversion slipped through the cracks.
Action Plan
I submitted a claim. We’ll have to see what happens next…
Do you have any “lost” money?
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Awesome! I went to missing money.com and didn’t find anything for myself, but I did find a place that had a couple of my brother’s old paychecks. (he was job hopping for awhile).
April 17th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Unfortunately? I’ve kept really good track of my money over the years…none missing yet. Still, good to remember as time goes by.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
The funny thing is that I didn’t know it was “missing”… I thought it was still in the bank!
April 17th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
How much?
Mike
April 17th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I found about $50 from an old employer back in North Carolina. What baffles me is why they didn’t send it to my new address. They sent other mail, but not that last little check.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:23 am
@ FP: It didn’t say how much, but I opened the account originally with $100. So probably a few bucks interest too.
@ Ron: Funny how that worked… nice to find $50 though!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I love this post! It only takes a few minutes to look, and when you “find” the money, well, that’s a little more that you have.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Finding unclaimed money is always fun. While looking for unclaimed money I also check to see if there are unclaimed funds due to a friend or relative. They’re always excited to hear you found some of their money – lol.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Yep, my boyfriend recently found a couple grand in stocks that were purchased in his name when he born. He accidentally found the unclaimed funds listing at the state treasury when he googled his name
April 20th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
@ Tammara: Your friends and family are lucky to have you looking for them!
@ Amanda: A couple grand? What an incredible find!
April 20th, 2008 at 9:28 pm