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How Finding Unclaimed Property Will Make A Difference

December 5th, 2012 | Shann

Do you want to make a difference in this country? When most people hear ‘make a difference’ they usually cringe. Making a difference usually means making a big lifestyle change. You either have to move to the Congo to take care of sick kids or you have to pledge most of your wealth or you might have to do community service or some kind of volunteer work. Who has time for all of that? While those ways of making a difference are certainly nice and welcome, they’re not for everyone. If you want to make a difference with minimal effort, all you have to do is search for unclaimed property.

 

Finding Unclaimed Property – Doing Your Part

State treasury departments across the US are overcome by the growing problem of unclaimed property. This property exists in the form of land, houses, card and coin collections, art, automobiles, boats and anything else you can think of. The problem is that most people don’t know that they are the rightful owners of this unclaimed property. Unless those individuals come forward and start searching for and finding unclaimed property, treasury officials will continue to be overloaded and the problem could escalate.

All of this unclaimed property is taking up valuable resources that could go to other things. Much of this unclaimed property also consists of money, which means that money is being taken out of circulation. The more money that is taken out, the more the economy suffers. Do you now see how finding unclaimed property could be a very good thing?

Not only will you help treasury officials breathe a sigh of relief, but you just might put more money or unclaimed property in your pocket. Imagine finding out that you are the rightful owner of a house, boat and cash to go with it? Or maybe they will even send you a surprise package with family heirlooms and valuables might show up on your doorstep. Stranger things have happened.

Do your part for this country, a big part, by finding unclaimed property today. You never know how much you’ll find and it’ll make you feel good that you did something nice for the country you call home.

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How Do eBay Auctions For Unclaimed Property Work?

October 12th, 2012 | Shann

A recent EBay auction for unclaimed property turned out to be a great success for the State of Nebraska. State Treasurer Don Stenberg reported that the recent unclaimed property auction sold 102 of the 117 lots that were put up for sale. It ended up being more lots sold then anyone expected.

One of the biggest sellers in the Nebraska State unclaimed property auction was a collection of Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars. Any coin collector would have loved to get there hands on this rare lot as it ended up being a steal. For only $800, a lucky Nebraskan walked away with this really nice coin collection that is sure to rise in value. It could either be used as a great investment for the future, retirement, school tuition or even a nice addition to any family heirlooms you already have or are maybe planning on leaving behind.

After long consideration Stenberg said that the decision to move from physical auctions to unclaimed property auctions via EBay was an easy one. He even stated, “If you have a physical auction in Lincoln or Omaha or, for that matter, in Scottsbluff or wherever, only a limited number of people as a practical matter are able to come to those and so, you have a much smaller group of people bidding.” Obviously by making this change it led to a much larger turn out and final figure of sales then they could have ever expected from an actual physical location for this unclaimed property auction.

Stenberg finished by saying, “So, we think the EBay [auction] works really well for the type of merchandise that we have.”

The unclaimed property auction on EBay netted the State Treasurer’s office $14,913. With much of the property sold actually managing to sell more than the initially appraised value.

What types of items were available for the unclaimed property auction? According to Stenberg, the State offered jewelry, coin collections, sports trading cards, antiques, collectors pieces, art and much much more. All of the merchandise, believe it or not, came from the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes and storage units.

State law requires that the State Treasurer’s office hold an unclaimed property auction at least once every five years. You can imagine how much money this brings in annually.

Are you the rightful owner of any of the items sold in the unclaimed property auction on EBay? Conduct an online search today using the Find Unclaimed Money database to find out.

Now, you may think that the unclaimed property money goes to the State, but that’s where you would be wrong. In fact, the money is held by the State Treasurer’s office until the rightful owner comes forward. That’s right, the EBay auctions are strictly to make it easier for the money to go the person the property belongs to.

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What Does Unclaimed Property Really Mean?

October 1st, 2012 | Shann

What do you think of when you hear the term ‘unclaimed property’? Do you think of land that has never been owned or maybe property left with a lost and found? Some people do think of things like old abandoned houses that nobody wants to live in anymore. They may consider these old monstrosities with the boards falling down, the paint peeling and maybe with local urban legends that the house may even be haunted. Some may even think of that show ‘Storage Wars’ where people bid on old abandoned storage building units and their long lost contents.

The fact is, most of those instances would be correct, but there are many other instances of unclaimed property that we haven’t even begun to cover. Let’s look at a few of those now and let’s also delve into how that property becomes unclaimed in the first place.

 

How Unclaimed Property Comes To Be

Unclaimed property could be a collection of gold coins that was passed down from one generation to the next. It might even be a large sum of money that was left in a will that was intended to go to a particular charity. Or it could be an antique furniture set that is currently locked away in an abandoned storage unit somewhere. All of these instances not only show but prove that unclaimed property could be pretty much anything at all that someone else previously owned. As long as it is tangible and it belongs to someone, it too could be considered unclaimed property.

That is the key phrase: ‘As long as it is tangible and it belongs to someone’. Unclaimed property always has a rightful owner the problem is that this property usually always outlives them. One of the reasons the property is considered unclaimed is usually because the rightful owner has not come forward. Or maybe these individuals don’t even realize they own some of these types of property and therefore don’t even know they should come forward to try and claim it.

In fact, the state officials who are in charge of keeping track of all of this unclaimed property would really like to return the property to it’s rightful owners. The huge problem is that they don’t always know who the property belongs to or where to start looking to figure it out. In these cases they are then stuck with the task of not only keeping track of all of these peoples property but are also stuck footing the bill to maintain and store it. The funds being used to try and take care of this issue is coming directly from each of our states budget which adds to the rising downfall of our economy.

This is where the main problem to this entire unclaimed property problem lies. Our country needs us and even more people to search for unclaimed property using systems like the Find Unclaimed Money database.

If more people search to find out and then come forward and claim the property that is rightfully theirs, the states will be able to allocate those resources to more important matters.  Not to mention the fact that all of that unclaimed property will be returned to the owners boosting their assets and possibly bank accounts. That is quite a lot of property those owners didn’t even think they had or knew belonged to them or their families. It could be a house, a boat, a rare vintage stamp collection or anything else you might imagine. A simple search could mean a very happy day for many unclaimed property owners. Could you be one of them? There’s only one way to find out.

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Over $24,000 In Unclaimed Property Was Recently Released To Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

September 18th, 2012 | Shann

Just last month, back in August of this year, Pennsylvania State Treasurer released about $24,000 in unclaimed property to be given back to it’s rightful owners. It is estimated that almost 2 billion dollars in unclaimed property and money exists in the United States. With all of these funds and properties being turned over to the state treasury it leaves a lot of work and responsibility to try and get it all back to the rightful owners.

While the Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Rob McCord, was visiting the Court House in Luzerne County he said, “This money belongs to the citizens of Luzerne County, so I am pleased we are able to put it back into their hands today. I applaud the initiative of leaders here who stepped forward to investigate and to pursue this claim. We hope the news of this reunification reminds other local governments to take a moment and see whether they or the agencies and departments under their jurisdictions are owed unclaimed property, too.”

The money that was returned to the county as well as it’s residents was in the form of rebates, tax refunds, uncashed payroll checks and even uncashed escrow checks from new home purchases and personal home loan refinancing.

With about 18 million out of the 2 billion in unclaimed property and funds belonging to organizations, local businesses and the people of Luzerne County, every little bit they are able to release and return the the rightful owners really helps. With these unclaimed properties and funds mainly coming from banks and utility companies it makes it very easy to track it all down, it just takes time. Unclaimed property from other resources like security deposits for homes and apartments or refunds from old life or car insurance claims or policies are much harder to track down if you don’t keep track of your personal finances.

Through a chain of command from the Luzerne County Manager to the state controller, a request to track down quite a bit of unclaimed property and funds was sent out. This amount of over $24,000 in these unclaimed funds and properties came from this simple request. So this goes to show that not only should individuals be keeping better track of their finances but with the right people working for the State and Government we will continue to be assisted in getting it all back to the actual owners. Let me warn you that keeping better track of your finances will help but it might not mean you will not be a person with unclaimed property and funds owed to you. Since state law does not require these entities that are holding onto this unclaimed property and funds to report them or contact the owners prior to turning it over to the treasury, quite some time could pass by before an individual may actually even be able to claim these types of funds or property.

McCord is hoping that by placing unclaimed property and funds back with the rightful owners it will then in turn be used to stimulate the economy in the Luzerne County area.

Although Luzerne County unclaimed property is currently still on the rise, government officials are always stepping in to try and aid in getting these funds and properties back to the actual owners. Many state treasurers and controllers are hoping that along with the advances in government, bank and financial technology that better tracking systems will prevent a nationwide epidemic like this from ever happening again.

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$350 Million Of Unclaimed Property In Oklahoma Is Being Brought To The State Fair By Ken Miller

September 11th, 2012 | Shann

If you haven’t heard of Ken Miller and you ever were or are currently an Oklahoma resident then this is a name you don’t want to forget. Ken Miller is the current Oklahoma State Treasurer and is keeping a tradition that started 12 years ago at the state fair. Oklahoma’s state treasury decided to put together and host a booth at their local state fairs in order to try and alert Oklahoma residents of over 5 million dollars in unclaimed property and money. Oklahoma took the initiative to start running these booths over a decade ago to try and counteract their continuously growing unclaimed property issue with their “Pot of Gold” booth.

 

With Oklahoma’s State Fair starting this Thursday, September 13th, 2012, Ken Miller has decided to keep this tradition running by not only hosting a booth this year but by bringing a list of over 600,000 Oklahoma residents that are owed unclaimed money and property. Over the last 12 years the “Pot of Gold” booth has helped over 11,000 individuals claim and receive over 5 million bucks in Oklahoma unclaimed property and money. This has proven to be a huge accomplishment felt not only by Oklahoma state residents and the State Treasury but also by Ken Miller himself, stating, “”Oklahoma’s economy would get a big shot in the arm if we were able to reunite 600,000 state residents with $350 million. If you go to the fair this year, you need to stop by our booth to see if we have any of your money. Remember, too, that our service is free.”

 

Ken Miller realizes that by placing these unclaimed funds with the original owners he will not only help solve Oklahoma’s unclaimed property and money problem but in turn it will help give their economy a little boost. State fairs across the country have been hosting booths at their own fairs as well but with 570 Oklahoma residents claiming back almost $400,000 you can clearly see that the Oklahoma State Treasury’s efforts are really “paying” off.

 

People are always surprised when they find out they are entitled to unclaimed property and money. Most of them don’t even realize why they are owed these funds in the first place. It is actually very interesting how many people leave behind old bank accounts or forget about things like security or utility deposits from their last rental. Sometimes individuals even forget they have taxes due to them or might have money coming back to them from an escrow account on their new home. Other things may occur that will lead to unclaimed property and money like changing life insurance or even auto insurance policies. With so many reasons unclaimed property and money exists it seems strange that more people are not aware of all the different ways to track down and claim the money that is rightfully theirs.

 

The best part about learning how to find unclaimed property and money is that you don’t have to wait around for your annual state fair to host their own “Pot of Gold” type booth. You can simply check out a site like www.FindUnclaimedMoney.com and use their free search engine to cross reference state treasury databases across the country and see if any unclaimed property and money is due to you today.

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