Have you ever felt the thrill of finding $1 on the ground? What about $20? Or maybe even more!? What if you could find tens or even hundreds of dollars you didn’t know about? That might sound too good to be true. However, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), 1 in 7 people in the U.S. have unclaimed money or property amounting to over $70 billion in total!
Luckily, there are a variety of easy places to check to figure out if you’re leaving money on the table. In this post, I’ll go over the tools and resources you can use to find unclaimed money. I’ve personally found hundreds of dollars for myself and my family members. I hope you have the same experience!
Why Might You Have Unclaimed Money?
You might have unclaimed money for a variety of reasons. For example, if you moved at any point, you could have received a check or refund to an old address and never received it. Same goes if a check or refund was accidentally sent to the wrong address. Other people have tax refunds they never claimed.
Moreover, if you changed employers, you may have retirement funds or paychecks that never reached you or that you never transferred to a new employer. To be clear, you don’t have to transfer retirement accounts to new employers. However, many people lose tracks of retirement funds from old employers. Some people even received retirement funds at their high school jobs and didn’t know about it. Consequently, these kinds of savings can easily fall through the cracks.
So even if you are very careful with your money, you may have unclaimed funds simply because of a very old job or a misspelled address. It’s worth checking just in case!
Where to Find Unclaimed Money
Nowadays, a variety of online tools make it easier than ever to find unclaimed money. You don’t have to brainstorm places you need to check or call up old employers or the IRS. Instead, take a few minutes to search online for unclaimed money for yourself and/or your family members.
Use Online Sites for Unclaimed Money
Your first step is to check sites specifically designed to find unclaimed money. These include:
Both are endorsed by NAUPA. MissingMoney.com lets you check for missing money across multiple states. However, it does mean you’ll probably get a lot of hits that you have to sift through. Unclaimed.org will bring you to state-specific sites to search for unclaimed money. While your state-specific site might not find all the unclaimed money owed to you, you’ll likely more easily find unclaimed money that’s relevant for you and not someone else with a similar name.
If you find unclaimed funds, you’ll need to provide your social security or tax identification number, address, and other contact information. Once they verify your identity and that the funds belong to you, the entity that owes you money will mail you a check.
Check for Unpaid Retirement Funds
As noted above, many people forget about retirement funds from old employers or don’t realize that old employers maintained retirement funds for them. You can check for these types of funds by going to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). You just need your social security number and last name and they’ll search for funds from any possible employer.
As with other types of unclaimed funds, you’ll need to prove your identity. However, you largely need to provide basic information about yourself to do so. You can then talk with a financial advisor and/or your current HR representative to figure out whether you can or should liquidate those funds, transfer them to your current employer, or transfer them to a different type of retirement account.
Consider Governmental and Financial Sources of Funding
Next, check whether you have any unclaimed tax refunds. On the IRS website you can check for unclaimed refunds. You can also call or visit your local IRS office to see if you have unclaimed refunds from past filing years.
Alternatively, if you’ve ever had money in a bank that failed, you may have unclaimed money from them. You can figure that out by going to the FDIC’s unclaimed funds site.
Beware of Scams
As you search, make sure you beware of scams. No legitimate unclaimed funds sites require you to pay money to check or receive those funds. So if any companies, sites, or individuals ask you for money, do not proceed! Likewise, always make sure you know whether a site is safe before entering in your personal information.
Final Thoughts on Finding Unclaimed Money
Many of us have unclaimed money we don’t know about. For some of us, it may just be a few dollars, whereas for others it can reach hundreds of dollars or more. By checking occasionally for unclaimed money for you and your loved ones, you can make sure you aren’t doing the equivalent of dropping money on the sidewalk.
Have you checked for unclaimed money? If so, did you find anything? Let me know in the comments!
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I had no idea there was so much unclaimed money out there. Thanks for the useful tips on where to search—I’ve already started checking.
I hope you find some! I only found a little for myself but found more for my dad. It’s fun looking!
My husband had a bank account without listing a beneficiary when he passed away. The bank wouldn’t give me the money unless I had a lawyer and the lawyer cost more than the money involved. Thus, the money went to the state’s unclaimed funds where it still sits ten years later.
That’s so frustrating! I’m sorry that happened to you