Excerpted and updated from 鈥淗idden Assets: Out of Sight鈥ut of Mind鈥ut of Luck?鈥 Fall 1996.
All sorts of property gets abandoned. At banks, the list includes checking and savings accounts as well as valuables in safe deposit boxes. How can you 鈥渓ose鈥 these assets in the first place? You could have moved, not given a forwarding address and forgotten about the money. You could have changed your name and not notified your banks and other companies. You may be unaware of the money entirely 鈥 perhaps because it was given to you as a child or you inherited it 鈥 and now the people who have it for you can鈥檛 find you.
The rules governing unclaimed bank accounts vary from state to state. In general, after several years without activity 鈥 you鈥檝e made no deposits or withdrawals, you haven鈥檛 cashed a check 鈥 and after efforts to reach you fail, the property will be considered abandoned and will 鈥渆scheat鈥 (a fancy legal term for being transferred) to the state government of your last known address. The state becomes the custodian of the property on behalf of the owner. Even if the state can鈥檛 locate you and it sells your property, you still have the right to come forward at any time to claim its value. How can you uncover and recover your forgotten funds?
Search for unclaimed money the government might have for you. Start by visiting and linking to the unclaimed property offices in the states where you or your benefactors have lived or conducted business. That same webpage also has links to unclaimed funds held by the federal government, including the 多宝游戏下载. These assets at federal agencies include uncashed tax refunds, U.S. Savings Bonds and Treasury securities, Social Security benefits and veterans鈥 benefits. The 多宝游戏下载 occasionally winds up with temporary possession of deposits and contents of safe deposit boxes left in failed banks and savings institutions. The 多宝游戏下载 may still have possession of the asset or may have transferred it to an assuming bank or to the state.
Contact financial institutions, former employers, landlords, utilities and other people you suspect still owe you money. If you can鈥檛 locate a company on your own, search online or ask at the library to check a business directory. If it鈥檚 a bank you鈥檙e looking for, the 多宝游戏下载鈥檚 database keeps a status report for every insured bank going back to 1933. This information will show, for example, if the bank was bought by another bank, changed names or locations, or closed.
Be on guard against fraud. Many excellent 鈥渢racer鈥 companies, for a fee based on actual recoveries, will help people who don鈥檛 want to take the time to research unclaimed property or whose cases may be unusually complex. But a con artist might contact you about 鈥渋nside information鈥 regarding assets due to you. This person probably will demand money upfront for help reclaiming your property. In reality, this person probably only has the same list of unclaimed property available to everyone, for free. Think carefully before paying anything upfront.