Pennies Are Not From Heaven

With each generation more and more people move more often, change jobs and careers more often and have more relationships. Is it any wonder you may lose track of stuff over time including money.

Is it possible you have lost track of something valuable? There are free web sites out there that help people find their lost treasures, claimed money or property, and for a fee, you’ll be able to reclaim it.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, NAUPA, estimates there is nearly $33 billion in unclaimed money from stocks, refunds, savings and checking accounts, CDs and other sources.

Three years of inactivity is the typical trigger to consider something abandoned at which point such items can be turned over to the state of your last known address, and the state holds the money in its coffers until you or your heirs claim it. There is no time limit to claim most abandoned property. In fact, years from now, your great-great grandchildren could claim it.

To see if you could claim such items, go to http://www.missingmoney.com/, an official database for the NAUPA that has records from most state unclaimed property programs. You can also link to your individual state unclaimed property program.

If you find an interesting lead that indicates there may be money left in an old bank account, find out if the bank is still in business. For that, go to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Web site at www.fdic.gov. Search under “Bank Find,” where you can view the see the history of the bank, including any mergers and acquisitions.

But if your bank failed, and you don’t claim those funds within a year and a half, the money in your account is turned over to the FDIC. To search for the failed bank, go to www2.fdic.gov/funds/index.asp. If those funds are not claimed after a couple years they can be lost.