It seems impossible, but it’s true: One out of every four people in the United States is entitled to money or assets he doesn’t know about.
“It’s true,” says David Folsom, an unclaimed-money expert who estimates that 60 million people have claims totaling $1 trillion. “There is a lot of money out there just waiting for somebody to come and say, `It’s mine!’ “
The hard part, of course, is knowing how and where to look. But with a little determination, a phone book and the use of public records, the average person can find these hidden treasures easily–without using an attorney.
One of the biggest pools of assets resides with state governments, which hold a total of $14 billion in unclaimed valuables. Each year, states return to rightful owners only four percent of what they take in.
Pennsylvania alone has received $529 million in money and valuables since 1982, and has returned approximately $100 million since that date, says state Treasurer Barbara Hafer.
“We have money and property that people don’t know about sitting here in the vault,” she said. “We are constantly trying to find the rightful owners.”
Such property comes from diverse sources including banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and police departments.
One of the state’s success stories is Dick Daddona Jr., a former IBM salesman who purchased company stock years ago to pay for his children’s college educations.
With one of his three children at Penn State last fall, Daddona decided it was time to dip into that nest egg for tuition. However, he was horrified to learn that IBM had no record of his stock.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Daddona says. “I thought, `How could this be?’ I had held this stock for 30 years, thinking it was growing. I immediately went into a panic.”
Baffled, Daddona called IBM repeatedly, finally learning that the company had lost track of him after a move. In the meantime, the stock had “escheated,” or reverted, to the state.
Though he figured his stock was gone forever, Daddona called the Pennsylvania Treasurer’s Department anyway. He was transferred to the Unclaimed Property Bureau, where workers checked the master file, quickly found his name and assured him that the IBM stock, by then worth $25,000, would be returned to him.
Daddona’s experience is not unusual, says Folsom, who got the idea to write his how-to book, “Assets Unknown: How to Find Money You Didn’t Know You Had,” after happening upon his own lost assets in 1987.
Then a social worker familiar with bureaucracies, Folsom was looking for information about a cousin who had died in another state. Though he wasn’t searching for money, Folsom unexpectedly learned that the cousin had left $16,000 to his heirs, himself included.
The money was about to be sent to California’s Unclaimed Property Division. Upon checking additional sources, Folsom discovered even more money.
Fascinated, he gave up social work to write his book, and now searches for unclaimed money full time.
“My goal is to provide hope to people,” he says. “Most people believe money is lost after a few years, that it will go to the state and disappear. But 95 percent of the sources of money we have found, and that is billions of dollars, have no statute of limitations. It stays there until you find it.”
(To find out about Folsom’s self-published book, call 800-286-5669.)
To uncover your own lost money, begin by making a list of every state you have lived in and jobs you have held.
Make another list of forgetful or deceased relatives, including Social Security numbers and birth dates. Usually all that is needed to claim a deceased person’s property is proof of a blood relationship, such as birth certificates and marriage licenses.
Begin your search in your own state’s Unclaimed Property Division, usually located within the Department of Revenue or Treasury. Repeat the process for every other state where you or your deceased relatives might have lived.
Also, while laws require companies to turn over abandoned stock to states, not all comply. So if you have lost track of stock, begin your inquiry with the company.
Many states publish names of people who have money coming to them. If you check the list and don’t find your name, keep searching. Most states advertise only the names of people whose property they took in during that year.
Don’t fall for a “finder.” Finders scour public records looking for people who have claims they don’t know about, then demand a large cut of the claim before divulging the source of the money.
Andrea Michalski of Las Vegas had no idea she had money coming to her when a finder called, wanting $11,000 for information that would lead her to a $22,000 settlement from an accident that had left her son paralyzed. Instead of giving up half her money, Michalski searched public records and found the source.
States aren’t the only place to look for money, of course. Here are some others:
– Retirement benefits. Review your list of previous jobs. Did you work at a company for at least five years? If so, you could be entitled to retirement benefits. Call the company to inquire.
– Pensions. If you worked for a company that went bankrupt, don’t assume your pension is lost. There is a federal agency that currently insures 42 million individual pensions. Write to: Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., Pension Search Program, 1200 K St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
– Bank accounts and utility deposits. Did you attend college? You may have left town without closing your student bank account or asking utility companies to return deposits.
– Union benefits. If you worked at a union job for more than five years, you may be vested in a pension plan and have a small life-insurance policy. Check with the local or regional office of the union where you worked.
– Life-insurance benefits. More than 25 percent of life-insurance policies that are sold go uncollected, Folsom says. Search a deceased relative’s canceled checks for the name of an insurance company or agent.
– Money from real estate. Don’t assume that a deceased relative’s property was sold for delinquent taxes. Some property is listed on tax rolls for years before being sold, and any money that exceeded the tax bill would have been sent to the state and left waiting for heirs to claim it.
– Frequent-flier miles. Most airlines allow an heir to claim a deceased relative’s frequent-flier miles, but some have a three-year limitation. Check credit-card statements or the deceased relative’s travel agent for an account number.
