Thursday, November 8, 2012

Get Extra Cash for the Holidays

It's that time of year where everyone could use a little extra cash. Did you know that one out of ten Americans have unclaimed money? Yes, it is true! You may have money from funds left in an abandoned bank account, an uncashed payroll or commission check, an uncashed refund check, or any checks that were undeliverable due to a change of address.

Due to a law called "Escheat" financial institutions and companies are required by law to report any unclaimed money. Escheat is defined by Wikipedia as, "In commerce, it is the process of re-assigning legal title in unclaimed or abandoned payroll checks, or stocks and shares whose owners cannot be traced, to a state authority (in the United States). A company is required to file unclaimed property reports with its state annually and, in some jurisdictions, to make a good-faith effort to find the owners of their dormant accounts. The escheating criteria are set by individual state regulations."

How can you find out if you have unclaimed money? Go to the website http://unclaimed.org/. Click on the state you live in and enter your name. You may see your name on the list. Be sure to check other states you have lived in and other names you may have used.

Caution: There are other sites out there that will charge you a fee for this service. Do NOT use those sites.

Both my husband and I had unclaimed money due to an address change which resulted in undeliverable commission and interest income checks.

So head on over to http://unclaimed.org/ maybe you will be one of the 'one out of ten!'