by Fred Fuld III
Have you ever wondered about those “Get Free Money from the Government” ads? Where you have to pay a fee to find out what the catch is?
Well I’m going to tell you what the catch is and how to get your free money, for FREE.
I was able to get $29 for my mother, $51 for my brother, and several thousand dollars for me (more on that later).
There is an organization called the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, made up of administrators from all the states in the US, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada.
What this organization does is provide a way for users to check and see if the state is holding any unclaimed money for them. Where does this money come from? It could be tax refund checks that were never cashed, uncashed dividend checks, stock takeover proceeds, or forgotten bank accounts.
According to the NAUPA, based on recent data, of the over $7 billion in unclaimed property, less than half or only $3.2 billion was returned to their rightful owners. That means some of this money might be yours.
In my case, I was able to collect several thousand dollars because I held several stocks in certificate from, and when I moved, I didn’t notify the transfer agent. When notices sent to my old address were returned to sender, the shares were turned over to the state. In a couple cases, the stocks were taken over by another company and the state was holding the proceeds.
So how do you check to see if you have money owed to you? Go to Unclaimed.com and click on the state you live in, then click on the Search For Unclaimed Property link, type in your last name, first name, middle initial, and city, then click Search. If your name appears a couple different ways in records, make sure to do a search using all names that you use, and all cities you have lived in. Also, don’t forget to check all the states you have ever lived in.
Good luck. Maybe there’s some money waiting for you.