Last month I heard that the state of Missouri paid someone $6.1 million because that person was entitled to unclaimed property. Are you freaking kidding me?!
I lived in Missouri for 22 years. I want a piece of this Missouri free money unclaimed property action!
I did a little research and found this website where you can choose any state you’ve lived in and it provides the website where you can check if there is any unclaimed property waiting for you.
Check if You Have Unclaimed Property
Since I currently live in Texas I started my search there. Unfortunately I came up empty. That’s okay though because I still had that gold mine of a state (Missouri) sitting in my back pocket. I had a feeling there was a huge pile of money waiting for me there. And I was right!
Well, maybe not a huge pile. I only got $17.79.
But hey, that’s $17.19 that I didn’t have before. It gives me enough money to buy a cheap case for my new toy. I freaking love technology.
After deciding what I’m going to do with my 17 bucks, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if How many of my friends and family have money waiting for them?”
Check if Your Friends Have Unclaimed Property
The state websites I used (Missouri and Texas) make it really easy to search by name. You don’t need any confidential information to find stuff (although you obviously need that info to claim it). This makes it really easy to search for your friends and family. I did a few searches and here’s what I found:
- My step-dad had $0.96.
- My grandma had over $100.
- My aunt and uncle had over $50.
- My uncle’s sister-in-law had over $60.
- My girlfriend’s mom had $0.90.
- My girlfriend’s dad had $20.
- One coworker had $20.
- Another coworker had $105.36
In the state of Missouri, the exact amounts are not shown on the website, which is why I wasn’t able to figure out the exact total. But if you combine my $17 with everything else I found, it comes to over $374. That’s a lot of money that I would much rather my friends have then state governments.
Honestly, I probably found something for about 40-50% of the people I searched. There is so much unclaimed money floating around it’s insane.
In general I found the people who are most likely to have something are typically older people who have been financially independent for a while. Lots of unclaimed property is money owed to you by an old employer or utility provider.
Check for Unclaimed Property NOW!!!
If you haven’t checked for unclaimed property, do it now and then leave a comment letting me know what you found. Just go to this website, click your state and do a search. I found over $300 by myself. Let’s see how much money Thousandaire readers can find. I bet it’s over $1,000!
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT atย Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer ofย Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When heโs not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
That is a great website, but some states have their own and do not report to that one. In Indiana the website is indianaunclaimed.com. I had a paycheck from when I worked at Target as a teenager. Apparently I had some vacation I never knew about that they paid out. It was only like $75 but I was pretty excited. Filling out the forms was pretty easy.
I also echo the statement about checking for family. After my grandmother passed I checked the website again and somehow she had about 10 unclaimed accounts one of which was north of 50K!
Maybe I’m crazy but how do you not know you are missing that kind of scratch?
The link I provided takes you to the indianaunclaimed site. And congrats on $75, that’s a pretty big win!
I can’t believe your grandma had that much! Did you family end up getting it?
I didn’t find anything for myself, but there was “over $100” for my grandma on there!
Sweet! It’s a lot of fun to call Grandmas and tell her you have “over $100” for her!
for me: $1 – 50 from college (wouldn’t tell me exactly).
I also searched for family and friends and had several hits for $100+. Maybe I can charge them a 10% finders fee! ๐
I hope it’s closer to $50 than $1.
And I bet your friends would be willing to pay you $10 if you told them you could guarantee them $100+!
I guess it wasn’t that hard after all. Unfortunately I have nothing, but it may be a good thing since it means that I didn’t give anything up for who knows how long. I should probably check my relatives but the last time I tried, it was a pain to deal with legal proof and death/birth certs and all.
Yeah it can be a hassle to claim the money. It just depends on the state. It was really easy in Missouri, but more complicated in Texas.
I found the .96 Kevin said i had bummer but great article Kevin
I found $1.96. Every little bit helps!
That sounds like a great idea, a great way to get a little bit of extra on the side. I’m currently in Missouri but I doubt that I have much more than $5 waiting for me.
Nada. Not a penny for anyone in my large family.
I got nothing man. How disappointing. ๐
Michigan’s site sucks!! Apparently I have unclaimed property, but it doesn’t say how much. In order to claim my “prize” I have to fill out a form, have it notarized and send it in by mail with a copy of my drivers license and social security card. I then get to wait up to 120 days for them to process it! Not worth the hassle for me. Michigan can keep my riches!
Really going to your bank and having them notarize the applcation is too much work?
I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but that will take maybe 10 minutes (and you can probably set up an appointment). I had to do basically the same thing in Indiana and it is really not that big of a deal. I mean it’s not like they are really asking for all that much.
I looked up Lance Armstrong in Austin.. if any one of those properties is his, he needs to collect! Great article, great site- glad to have you in Texas Kevin!
My name is too common to distinguish myself from any of the other individuals who share my name in my state.
I like it. Checked some stuff out, apparently my mom, dad, and sister all have unclaimed money. Me, not so much ๐
Thanks for ruining my day.
A few tips from someone that handles the reporting for major corporations:
1. Make sure that you check all the states that you have lived in. Just because you have moved does not mean the companies that report unclaimed property have your new address.
2. Also, check the various state websites on a periodic basis. Some states take up to six months (or more) to load the new properties in their online databases.
3. Search for common misspellings and typos in your name. Also, put your first name in the last name box. You’d be surprised at how often this gets messed up.
4. Work for a small business? Search for them, find some money and you may be a hero. And if you own a business, search under that name too. When searching for a company, try using both the individual and company searches. Once again, these are not always clear.
5. If you do find something, follow the instructions on the claim forms to the letter. The forms may need to be notarized. Don’t forget this if you are making the claim. The states’ unclaimed property offices handle a lot of requests, so make it easy for them.
I’m way late on this, I know. But I just read this. I checked a while back, and I had $354 waiting for me. It was a great surprise! My parents had $75 between them, and my husband had nothing. All in all, none to shabby.