As expert economists have predicted, the recession time is here again and it's threatening to blanket the whole U.S. mainland- creeping in ominously from the opposite coasts. Massive job-loss that started with Detroit at the start of the energy crisis has now spread to the other States and countless Americans are in a serious fix- scrambling to survive. Everywhere there are signs of the financial quagmire that have hit eastern and western states like a Category 5 hurricane. Horses let loose in the desert- their owners unable to afford the rising costs of feed, animal shelters getting crowded as people lose their homes, shockingly, even children are getting abandoned under 'safe-haven laws' which protect parents form prosecution if they leave their offspring in hospitals. Indeed, a lot of citizens are in dire straits and are scrambling to find all possible sources of extra cash and few are aware that an online search for state unclaimed property search can tie them up with some.
Unknown to most, there is a law that requires businesses and financial institutions to hand over financial assets belonging to people that aren't aware or may have forgotten about them. The National Unclaimed Property Law slightly differs per state but it basically gives authority to the individual Treasury Departments throughout the U.S. to collect financial assets deemed as 'abandoned' each year.
The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) explains unclaimed property:
"Unclaimed property (sometimes referred to as abandoned) refers to accounts in financial institutions and companies that have had no activity generated or contact with the owner for one year or a longer period. Common forms of unclaimed property include savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler's checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates (in some states), insurance payments or refunds and life insurance policies, annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments, utility security deposits, mineral royalty payments, and contents of safe deposit boxes. "
The total amount of unclaimed money from financial assets that Americans across the country have lost track of easily exceeds $30 BILLION and since only a small percentage of the populace are doing a regular unclaimed property search online, that number is sure to get bigger. New York and California have the biggest amounts of state unclaimed property at $8 billion and $5 billion, respectively. Quite understandable given the population count and the fast pace people live in those states.
Unclaimed tax refunds or economic stimulus checks make-up a large portion of the national unclaimed property pile. Scores of people, not knowing they qualify for the $600 stimulus checks the government recently handed out have failed to file for them. The IRS was also unable to mail hundreds of thousands of tax refunds due to bad addresses or marriage (name change). Around 383,000 stimulus checks worth $266 million were able to reach their intended recipients because of errors in the address. A quarter of a million newlywed women were also denied much-needed stimulus money because their new name and Social Security Number didn't match.
There are many other sources of state unclaimed funds and it's ironic that in these hard economic times, people are missing out on the cash they could get by doing an online unclaimed property search.
About this Author
Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His sites are http://www.unclaimedmoney.net and http://www.unclaimedfunds.net which are updated regularly and are guaranteed official searches.
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