One of the best feelings is reaching into your coat or jeans pocket and finding money you didn’t think you had. It doesn’t matter if it’s a $1 bill or a $20, it still makes it a good day.
Your coat pocket is not the only place you can find money you didn’t think you had. Nowadays you can find it online. Unclaimed money essentially hides in plain sight. You can find things like abandoned bank and investment accounts, uncashed dividend checks and paychecks, tax refunds and funds due from canceled insurance policies.
An estimated 2.5 million claims totaling $2.5 billion were returned to rightful owners in 2012, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
Here are steps to see if you have any that is yours.
- Go to MissingMoney.com, a site endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. It lets you search in many states at once, free of charge
- Check in all of the states where you have lived. Search under maiden names, trusts, or any businesses that you may have owned
- If you find some money that is associated to you there will be a claims process to go through. The documents required to complete the claim will vary.
I looked for myself a couple of months ago and found about $50 that I was owed. I filled out a form and in a month a check for $50 was mailed to me.