Throughout the United States, people are discovering lost stashes of money they didn’t know existed.

No, it’s not from cleaning out their attics or up-ending their mattresses. It’s actually from the government- money in the form of unclaimed money and property. And there are billions of dollars of it is still to be returned. The latest estimates have been $40 Billion dollars nationwide.

For years, talkshows have featured episodes entirely on unclaimed money. NBC’s Katie Couric recently reported in the Today Show, there were billions of dollars in lost assets with the US government including $62 million in uncashed refund checks held by the IRS. Oprah Winfrey was even able to reunite some members of her studio audience with thousands of dollars of unclaimed money after doing an on-the-spot search. Oprah noted 7 out of 10 Americans may be due a claim.

How does this happen? This question appears to be the most common question and the biggest reason many Americans remain skeptical and never search.

When people move or get a new job, get married or pass-away, they tend to lose track of financial assets like bank accounts, tax returns, checks, stocks, bonds, etc. These assets are turned over to the state as required by escheat rules which state that (according to Wikipedia) “when an entity (such as a bank) holds money or property (such as an account in that bank) and the property goes unclaimed. In many jurisdictions, if the owner cannot be located, such property can be escheated to the government.” The period that banks and businesses can hold-on to these assets before turning them over is called the ‘dormancy period’ (the average is 3-5 years) and it varies from state to state. These lost assets go into each state’s unclaimed property fund where they stay until their rightful owners show-up. There is generally no time limit (Idaho is an exception with 10 years) as to how long these assets are claimed- as long as the identity of the claimant and the validity of the claim is established.

In an effort to locate rightful owners of money owed, the Unclaimed Property Division in the states’ Treasury Departments have outreach programs, but only a small fraction of unclaimed money they are suppose to return is successfully reunited with its rightful owners. This is due to a lack of manpower and no centralized government unclaimed property database.

State Treasurers urge all residents to check if their names are on the list of unclaimed property owners. These are published annually in government websites, newspapers and public places like state fairs. Most are surprised at the names which turn-up on the unclaimed lists. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Demi Moore, even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were on lists of people who were owed unclaimed property or money. And to think these people aren’t even difficult to locate.

With millions added every year to the unclaimed money fund, American citizens are encouraged to conduct an unclaimed property search in every state they have ever lived or worked.

The process of searching for unclaimed property and unclaimed money databases can be as simple as entering one’s name in a search box. If the results show that you are on the list, an on-line claim form is usually available online to verify you are indeed the rightful owner.

WARNING: Many unclaimed money sites entice you with supposed “free” searches, and if a match is made will request payment to access the database. Considering you need to search at least once per year, this method could get costly. Unclaimed money expert Russ Johnson, of UnclaimedMoney.net does not charge on a per search basis and offers lifetime access. Russ says “say goodbye to those blood sucking unclaimed money websites! Utilize lifetime access sites and never pay for access again. Most of these databases are misleading, outdated and almost always containing only a small fraction of actual claims.

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.

Maybe you are hesitant to find your unclaimed money because you are wondering where all these money came from and why they are forgotten and became unclaimed money. Every year millions of dollars become lost when banks, companies and government agencies lose track of the money they are holding due to mistakes in account numbers, names and addresses. Other sources of unclaimed money are old pay checks, tax refunds, dividends, bonds, stocks, proceeds from insurances, forgotten deposit accounts, trust money and even inheritance that’s owed to you that you don’t know.

Are you now interested to find your unclaimed money? But before your search you should know that unclaimed money is eventually transferred to the government. If the organization holding this money is unable to contact the owner for a certain period of time, the money will be classed as unclaimed and will be turned over to the government, federal reserves or corporations and languish there for years waiting for the right owner to claim it.

It is not impossible to find your unclaimed money. Do not assume that you don’t have one; some people never expected of having money waiting for them until one day they decided to search for their unclaimed money and they were shocked to find out that they have unclaimed treasures.

Do you want to find your unclaimed money and discover that there is money waiting for you? Unclaimed money search current database lists millions of dollars in unclaimed money, property, accounts and assets that could belong to you. To find your unclaimed money visit Unclaimed Money Search

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Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects including Find Your Unclaimed Money- Find Out the Money Owed to You. You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and included with every reproduction.

Here are 7 things everyone needs to know about unclaimed money:

1 – ANYONE can have money owed to him or her!

Money that ends up in the unclaimed databases can come from many places including old bank accounts, savings bonds, inheritance, payroll checks, the list goes on and on. There are approximately 200 million people who are owed unclaimed money. Oprah stated 8 out of 9 families are owed unclaimed money.

The money may be from a source you were never even aware existed like a savings bond from when you were a child or an inheritance.

The government will not look for the owners of unclaimed money. They will happily keep the money and borrow from it or earn interest on it for as long as they can. This is apparent from the fact that Microsoft, Ryan Seacrest, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson and Benicio Del Toro are all owed money.

Unless you do a search, don’t assume you don’t have unclaimed money.

2 – Your money may be under a different name

When you do an unclaimed money search the money may be listed under a variation of your name. For example: if your name is William M Smith the money may be listed under Bill M Smith, B M Smith, W M Smith, etc.

Depending on the source of the funds and the way the name was listed on that account the money may be listed under a variation of your legal name.

The money may also be listed under the name of a co-signer on the account. If the account was not solely in your name, it might very well be under the name of the person who shared the account(s) with you.

3 – It helps to know past addresses

When you perform an unclaimed money search you enter a name and then are given a list of results that match the entered name. The results will include some or all of the following information: account number, name on account, last known address on account and amount owed. Knowing the past addresses of the person whose name you are searching is helpful in identifying which accounts actually belong to that person.

4 – You may be owed money that was reported outside your state

If you have ever lived outside your current state of residence or have done any business with any company(s) outside your state, the money may be reported in the state where the company existed.

For example: If you lived in California your whole life but had an insurance policy with a company in New York and they had no address on record, the money owed from the policy would be listed in the New York state database not California.

Inheritance is often reported in the state of residence for the deceased, since it is unclaimed chances are the heir’s address is unknown.

Most states have their own searchable database, but remember, searching your own state is not enough.

5 – Make sure to complete all steps of the claims process

The claims process will vary depending on the type of account. Typically driver’s license, social security or birth certificate are required. If you are an heir additional paperwork such as death certificate and other executor documents may be required.

If you search a good quality database, they will provide you the claim instructions. Make sure to include all information and documentation requested. If you omit forms or required data your claim may not be processed and they will send a request for more information which will delay receipt of your money.

6 – You can search for family and friends

Databases allow you to search multiple names. You can search the names of your family and close friends to see if they are owed money. Since most people are unaware this money is sitting around, most have not searched their name to see how much is owed to them.

While researching for this article I found $400 owed to my mom from 2 different accounts!

7 – Unclaimed tax refunds will not be found

Tax refunds owed from prior tax years will not be in the databases, UNLESS you have filed for the year(s) you are owed money. You have up to 3 years to submit for a tax refund. After that time expires you will no longer be able to claim your tax refund. That means 2003-2005 taxes can be filed for a tax refund but entitlement to 2002 tax refunds expired on April 17, 2006.

So, if you are owed money from 2003-2005 tax years make sure to file your taxes for those years to claim your tax refund.

Nicole Anderson offers more information about unclaimed money at http://www.cashunclaimed.com. Cash Unclaimed’s database covers all state and federal databases, has Name Match technology, which will search variations of your name to ensure nothing is overlooked, and offers unlimited name searches to members. Click on http://www.cashunclaimed.com for a free money search and locate your missing money today!

Money was distributed amongst the audience of a show of Oprah Winfrey. The money that was distributed was unclaimed money that belonged to the individuals to whom it was distributed. When Oprah checked for the unclaimed money owed to the individuals, she discovered that the total sum of money owed to the audience ran into thousands of dollars. She further stated that 8 out of 9 families in the US are owed lost funds. Companies and financial institutions hold on to cash owed to individuals for a period of three years. If they are unable to contact the owner after three years, the money becomes unclaimed money.

Why do companies and institutions find themselves unable to contact the owner of the money? Reasons include change in address, phone numbers or legal name. The owner of the money never learns that he or she is owed money because the notification is sent to the old address. Due to this simple communication gap, the money never reaches its true owner.

Once three years come to an end and the owner remains beyond reach, the law requires the companies and institutions to hand over the money to the government for safe keeping. After being handed over after the period of three years, the funds are normally held by the controller’s office of each state. The funds stay there until they are claimed by its true owners.

The most common sources of unclaimed funds include old and forgotten Checking and Savings Accounts, unclaimed Tax Refunds, ignored Pay Checks, forgotten Child Support or Alimony Payments, unclaimed Stocks, Bonds, Dividends, Insurance Payments etc

The best way to determine whether one is owed unclaimed cash or not is to enter one’s name in an unclaimed money database. The search results will tell you whether you are owed money by the government or not. Details of the funds will be present and you can use them to jog your memory. Once you have located all the accounts owed to you, you can submit a claim form and proceed to claim the lost money.

Nicole Anderson offers additional information about unclaimed money at http://www.cashunclaimed.com

If you want to get back your lost money and unclaimed funds without any hassles, just visit http://www.cashunclaimed.com to search 120+ databases in one go. Conduct a single search and all the money owed to you will be flashed on your screen.

“Really?” I said.

Then the person went on to say that he didn’t have enough money because other people had too much – all those millionaires. I have to say that I couldn’t quite follow his line of thinking so I told him, “(Friend) money is everywhere. All you have to do is claim it.”

But all he would say was, “You can’t make money out of thin air.” He was adamant. But I told him that he could. Anyone can.

I could see he was perplexed so I explained it a bit further. I pointed to a row of houses and I asked him how much any of those houses were worth ten years ago. He gave me a figure. I then asked him, “How much do you think they are worth now?” He gave me another figure. I then asked him to subtract the first figure from the second figure which he did. And then I asked him where this amount of money came from.

“Inflation,” he replied.

To which I asked him, “So why aren’t you taking advantage of that?” And he couldn’t answer me. You see, he could readily determine mathematically that the amount of money seemingly “appeared.” It came from nowhere.

Assets produce money. Unfortunately, his greatest asset – his mind – just wasn’t tuned in. That is the very first thing that you need to get right before you can attract any money into your life. The second thing is to learn the ways of money. In other words, educate yourself.

If you want to know what it is that will attract money into your life then Click Here

The first place many people go to when they hear about the billions of dollars of unclaimed funds is the Internet. There are many sites devoted exclusively to helping find unclaimed money or property. All you need to do is search by name and state and within moments you’ll discover whether you are going to soon be the recipient of money you didn’t know you have.

If you take this step it’s always a good idea to also search for the names of family members. This includes anyone who is deceased. If you are the heir to someone’s estate, and you find lost money or property in their name, you can then claim that money yourself. There is a bit more to the claim’s process in this case, but it’s well worth the work when you think about the end result – extra money in your pocket.

It’s very easy to be skeptical of the idea that you have money out there that you didn’t know you have. The simple truth though is that every day money is overlooked by individuals, and that money eventually is sent to the state for safe holding. Although some agencies will send out notices of forgotten funds before they are transferred to the government, most agencies just don’t have the monetary resources to do that. Instead, they quietly release the funds to the government and the owner has to do the legwork themselves to then find their funds.

Considering that there are an estimated $300 billion in unclaimed funds being held by state and federal governments, it’s easy to see why 7 out of 10 people will find something that belongs to them. Although it’s not always the million dollars that we all dream of, a few hundred or thousand dollars can really make a difference in someone’s life.

Chances are once you find unclaimed money or property for yourself you’ll want to help others do the same. Think about all your relatives, friends and acquaintances and see if you can use your new found detective skills to help them find a small fortune they never realized they had. They’ll love you for it.

20 million people have forgotten money sitting with a state government waiting to be claimed. Millions more have money awaiting them at the federal level. To find out how to earn a living by helping reunite them with their money, Click Here!

The missing money from the government comes in the form of unclaimed money and property. The latest estimates claim there is over $40 billion dollars nationwide of unclaimed money. You would think a figure like this would get recognized, but there are so many people that completely lose track of their money.

The biggest problem is when people move, get another job, get married, or pass away. What ends up happening is people simply lose track of their records. They lose track of all financial assets including bank statements, tax returns, checks, stocks, and bonds. After losing track of these assets they get turned over to the state. If these assets never get claimed, they are then turned over to the government.

It varies, but typically the period the bank or business is allowed to hold on to these assets before handing them over to the state is three to five years. As far as how long you have to claim them, there generally is no time limit as long as the identity matches with the asset.

As you can imagine, many times none of this missing money gets claimed by the rightful owners. Even shows like Dateline and Oprah have dedicated episodes strictly to unclaimed money. And even then people just seem to overlook the opportunity that some may be theirs.

It does not hurt to call up and see if any of it is yours. An even easier way to find out if you have missing money is to conduct a free search on the internet. The process of searching for unclaimed property and unclaimed money databases is as simple as you typing your name in a search box. If your name is on the list there typically is an online claim form for you to fill out to prove your identity.

With millions of dollars being added to the unclaimed cash list every year, there is a good chance that some of this money may be yours. All it takes is a few minutes for you to perform a free unclaimed money search. And for all you know you could have thousands of dollars missing. Take the time to research and find out if you have any missing money.

Noah Ulrich is owner of very popular and highly regarded web businesses. His sites offer free unclaimed money searches, many webmaster resources, real popunder and expired domain web traffic, and much more for the serious online marketer.

According the Marshall, the state has increased its unclaimed money returns to 350-700 claims per week. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and Nevada’s state treasurer is to be commended, but when you consider that at that rate it would take 20-40 years before they’d ever return all claims currently listed, it’s nothing to get too excited about, especially when you consider how much more additional money would come in over those 20-40 years!!!

The bottom line is that people can’t rely on the Nevada to reunite them with their funds. The citizens have to take action themselves, if they ever want to be sure they’re searching thoroughly and exploring all possible sources of NV unclaimed property. The state has no doubt stepped up their efforts, but there’s a long way to go, and I think we can all agree that we the people are far more efficient than any government agency will ever be.

The following are the most common types of unclaimed property in Nevada: Stocks, Checking/Savings Accounts, Death Benefits, Vendor Checks, Over-Payments, Certificates of Deposits, Paid-in-full Life Insurance, Uncashed Checks, Unpaid Wages, Money Orders, Credit Balances, Refunds, Dividends, Commissions, Insurance Payments, Gift Certificates, Customer Deposits. If you or anyone you know have ever had any of these, you owe it to yourself to learn the proper way to search for missing money.

Each of the different types of unclaimed cash sources listed above has it’s own unique dormancy period. This is the amount of time that must pass before the abandoned money is considered “unclaimed” and turned over to the state. Depending on the type of fund, the dormancy period can be anywhere from 1 to 15 years. This is important to know, because traditional online searches won’t show a record unless the dormancy period has passed, and the state has taken control of your money.

Beyond the fact that the dormancy period has to pass before there will be any sort of online record of your money, there’s also the matter of how often Nevada updates their unclaimed money listing. Records are not updated daily, so you can be confident in your search if you look and don’t find anything one day, and the state just happens to not add your record until the next day, week, month, or year. This is why rule #1 of searching for missing money is to search frequently.

Additionally not all money belonging to Nevada citizens is in the state of Nevada. Some people may have lived in other states before moving to Nevada, while others may have had dealings with out of state entities, even if they didn’t know it. For example, many companies have locations in a number of different states, but they are headquartered in just one state. The same goes for insurance carriers. Even if a company has locations in 20 states, including Nevada, if the company they use for employee insurance benefits is located in some other state, Nevada would never have a record of that money.

In addition to the issues raised above, there are countless problems that people often run in to when searching for unclaimed money in Nevada, which make it all the more important you get expert assistance in tracking down your money.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site is http://www.unclaimedmoney.net which is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Nevada unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

In April 2006 State Controller, Steve Wesley, stated, “The Governor and Legislature are using unclaimed property to cope with the State budget mess they created through gridlock and mismanagement. This must stop”. Currently the state pays out about $250 million annually in found property claims and the rest is put in the general fund and spent as if it were the States money.

In an attempt to better the States unclaimed money system, Wesley sponsored a Bill, SB 1752, which would have removed severe restrictions on the State’s ability to find account owners. The Bill would have also separated the unclaimed money into its own account, instead of the General Fund, and earned interest for the account owners. Wesley added, “I sponsored this bill to change the system and take California’s unclaimed property away from the politicians and return it to the people. Forgotten checking accounts should not be used to plug holes in the State budget.”

Since the Bill’s creation in April 2006 the Bill, SB 1752, the bill is being held in committee. If the legislature adjourns at the end of the month without taking action on the bill, it will be dead.

Through Wesley’s efforts the State has increased the unclaimed money returns for the last 3 years. In 2004 $177.4 million was returned, 2005 $238.5 million, and in 2006 $292 million. Even though there has been an increase in annual returns of found property the unclaimed money balance is still growing $500 million annually after paying out claims! At this rate the total lost funds will be $10 billion in the next 10 years. Minimal efforts by the State are not enough to reach the nearly 8 million unclaimed money account owners.

Sites are being established that advertise to account owners not only in California, but nation wide. This private advertisement has added to the increase in found property claims.

Nationally there is over $25 Billion in lost funds.

Most people have put a deposit down for a gas, electric account at some time. People move and forget about the deposit but the money is theirs and electric company doesn’t know where to send it. The money is placed in state’s treasury department fund for unclaimed property. This is one of hundreds of places missing money may come from. Found property may consist of savings or checking accounts, stocks, mutual funds, dividends, IRS refunds, wages, child support payments, the list goes on.

One inefficiency in having a state operated missing money database is a person who searches the database will only find money reported in that state. Also, the states are limited on what they can do to reach account owners and do not have a budget to advertise to the public and notify them of the ever-growing lost money funds.

Even if a person has only lived in one state they may have money in other states databases. An insurance company in New York that owed someone money on a policy may place the unclaimed money in the state of New York’s database, regardless of the state of residency of the beneficiary. Also, the unclaimed property may be listed under possible name variations (William Smith may be listed as W. Smith or Bill Smith). The government has not created a single database to search for unclaimed money.

To fill the inefficiencies of the States all in one databases have been created. Searching in a quality, database will search all state and federal databases, all possible name variations and provide the instructions and forms for submitting a claim once money has been found. These sites also spend a great deal advertising to the public informing them of the high likelihood they, or someone in their immediate family, is owed money.

The reason the national amount of unclaimed money is growing billions year after year is people are not searching to see if any is owed to them. It may be money that was forgotten about or an inheritance the person never knew existed. People will never know until they look. A simple search may mean a check in the mailbox.

Cashunclaimed.com is the largest unclaimed money database, including all state and federal databases. CashUnclaimed.com was founded to assist owners in easily locating and claiming their lost funds. The site offers more information on unclaimed money and free unclaimed money search at www.cashunclaimed.com

Nicole Anderson offers information about unclaimed money at http://www.cashunclaimed.com. Cash Unclaimed’s database covers all state and federal databases to ensure any money owed to you is found and offers unlimited name searches to members.

Recent efforts by the Connecticut State Treasurer’s “The Big List” program have handed over $110 million back to CT residents in just the last 8 years, but more money continued to come in than went out so the heaps of unclaimed property held by the government continue to grow. Due to the fact that new forgotten funds outpace the return rate, the odds of finding a claim for any given name get better all the time.

A lot of people wonder how unclaimed money could be real because the fact that across the country there are billions of dollars waiting to be discovered by the rightful owners simply boggles the mind. Why would these people abandon their money? Are they crazy? No, they’re just normal people, and it has been estimated that 7 out of every 10 Americans are due some type of claim!

So how is all this cash being abandoned without the owners realizing it? In most cases it is as simply as forgetting about a checking or savings account that wasn’t a primary account, or not providing a forwarding address to all the necessary people when a person moves. Additionally, the State Treasury’s website lists the following as common types of lost money in Connecticut:

“…un-cashed checks; deposits; stocks, bonds or mutual fund shares; travelers’ checks or money orders; life insurance policies; and safe deposit box contents…”

As these different types of accounts lay untouched past their dormancy periods (unique for each account type in each state), they are turned over to the state for safe keeping until the owner steps forward to claim them. So if the dormancy period on a given account doesn’t run out for another year or two, someone searching today will find now record of their missing money, even though it’s out there in pre-escheat, meaning the dormancy period has not expired. Additionally, states have no uniform law dictating when the records are actually added to their system so a person could theoretically search and find nothing, while the record is added the following day, week, month or year. The only way to be thorough about your search is to search regularly.

In addition to limiting themselves to one search, inexperience searchers often search only the state they live in, not knowing that there is the potential for unclaimed funds owed to them in states they’ve never lived in or even been to, for a variety of reasons such as employers’ corporate headquarters or insurance company headquarters.

The issues mentioned above, among others, can be worked around once people become educated on proper search tactics. Seeking the advice and guidance of experienced unclaimed asset finders often makes the difference in whether or not someone with limited knowledge in these matters finds all money owed to them or not.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Connecticut unclaimed money and missing money across the country.