The document discusses the existence of unclaimed money and property, which exceeds $25 billion held by the government across the U.S. and Canada. It highlights the reasons behind the accumulation of unclaimed funds, such as relocations and lack of awareness of inheritances, and encourages individuals to search for their possible unclaimed refunds or assets. The article provides information on how to locate these funds, emphasizing the importance of checking various databases, including both state and federal sources.

1. Time To Claim Your Long Lost Unclaimed
Money
Where do the millions of unclaimed dollars
all come from?
Each and every year hundreds of thousands of
individuals across the United States and Canada ,
leave their friends , family relatives and birthplace to
follow a dream m start another life and to
consequently relocate.
The reasons they leave “home” are as varied as
there are people who do! But one thing is certain;
those who move away are looking towards the
future. Not to the past. In turn many thousands lose
contact either by chance or by choice with the
passing of time.
Our forever changing society has resulted in the fact
that most people do not have the slightest idea who,
where most of their relatives are! Think of it! Do you
personally know all of your relatives? That includes
aunts, great- aunts, uncles and great-uncles, half-
brothers and sisters, grandparents, great-
grandparents etc etc. The answer for most people is
an unequivocal now.

2. Grandparents generally have some sketchy ideas
about the long-range past, but if one asks for
information regarding missing or l “long lost
relatives” it never comes up. And once the
grandparents are gone chances are that you will
never know.
So why is all this important? Because “lost” works
both ways. Either you have long lost relatives or you
yourself are a lost relative if someone who would
like to get in touch with you. It could well mean –
“untold” wealth that is just waiting to be discovered.
Imagine for a moment that a great-uncle, who has
survived and aunt dies and has named you as the
sole heir to his entire estate of 2 million dollars.
However no one, including the great- uncle knew
where you were. After a half-hearted search, the
attorneys will take their fees from the estate and the
balance will go to the states: unclaimed money
account”. Or if you reside in Canada to the “Bank of
Canada”.
In Canada, all financial institutions are required by
law to submit the names and last known address of
accounts that have been inactive for at least seven

3. years. After that period of time, the financial
institution has already sent out two notices. One is
sent out after two years of inactivity, the next after
five years. After the limit is reached all unclaimed
funds are released to the Bank of Canada, but each
account, as in the case of U.S. accounts remains in
the name of the original holder.
In the United States, each state has a different
standard of time variance, although many may be
the same. However, all financial institutions including
retirement funds, insurance companies, banks,
county government offices etc are also required by
law to report unclaimed money to the state. After a
period of time as specified by law, the money is then
turned over to the state treasury department
unclaimed property division. In either case, to get
their rightful money, all you need to do is locate it,
and then ask for it.
Unclaimed Refunds
There are millions of dollars out there in unclaimed
refunds that people don’t even realize they are
entitled to. This is often due to the address on file for

4. the person being wrong or being old. Many of these
refunds are then returned to the person trying to
deliver them. In many instances those funds sit in
accounts for a set period of time. If they aren’t
claimed then that money may be allocated for other
uses.
There are various sites online where you can type in
your information and find out if you have a refund
that isn’t claimed. Believe it or not these unclaimed
refunds are a really pain for the issuer. They often
publish that information where they can in order to
try to get it out there. They do all they can to get
people to take notice of it. The problem though is
that many people believe these sites for unclaimed
refunds are scams. So they don’t bother to look to
see what they may have coming to them.
It can also be easy for it to slip your mind that you
have some type of refund coming your way. This is
easy to understand with all of the different things
people have going on these days. A refund check
you are anticipating in the mail for a few dollars
really isn’t a priority. Yet some of these unclaimed
refunds are for hundreds or even thousands of
dollars. People just don’t realize they are entitled to
them.

5. While most of us know when we file our income tax
returns if we will get a refund, the IRS sends out
other checks later on. These are due to the
information on the return not being correct. As a
result that household is entitled to a larger refund
than what they got. When a person doesn’t know
that such a refund check is looking for them they
aren’t going to be reporting that their address has
changed.
It may be in your best interest to simply go online
and find out if you have any unclaimed refunds. You
can look for them by state. Should you find your
name under any of those listings you can contact the
entity to get more information. It may be well worth
it for you to take a look. Many people are
pleasantly surprised when they discover various
types of refunds waiting for them.
Connecting With Your Unclaimed Money
Unless you won the lottery this week you would
probably be excited to find money owed to you.
Unclaimed money and property in excess of $25

6. Billion is being held by the government and is just
waiting to be claimed.
You may be thinking, 'I have never forgotten about
money owed to me', this may be true, but what
about the monies you are not aware of? i.e. an
inheritance or savings bond. It was once stated 9 out
of 10 Americans have unclaimed money.
So why is this money just sitting around? Chances
are you haven't heard about unclaimed money,
there is a lack public awareness and no simple
method for searching and claiming lost funds.
The most common types of Unclaimed
Property are:
· Savings and checking accounts and safe deposit
box contents
· Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
· Uncashed cashier's checks or money orders
· IRS refunds
· Wages, child support payments

7. · Matured or terminated insurance policies
· Estates
· Mineral interests and royalty payments, trust funds,
and escrow accounts
· The list goes on and on...
One of the most impressive unclaimed items is a 88-
carat natural blue sapphire ring valued at over
$25,000!
The property ends up in government accounts due to
laws requiring the property to be turned over to the
state or other governing agency after a period of
approximately 3 years without contact from the
owner.
Oftentimes the owner moves and does not leave a
forwarding address or forgets that the account
exists. In some cases, the owner dies and the heirs
have no knowledge of the property.
The amount of unclaimed cash is growing. It has
almost doubled the 15.8 billion in lost funds

8. recorded in 2000. The increase is not only due to
public awareness but also attributed to each state
recording the money in individual databases.
Finding Your Unclaimed Money
So how do you search and find money owed to you?
Each state has its own database but it is not enough
to search only the state where you reside. If you
have conducted business with companies outside the
state, the funds may be reported in the state where
the business was located. Also, a state search will
not locate missing money in 90 federal databases.
This makes searching difficult because you may have
unclaimed cash in a state in which you have never
lived.
You also need to search variations of your name. For
example, if your name is Michael James Anderson
an account might be under M Anderson, M J
Anderson, or Michael Anderson.
This can be a time consuming and tedious process to
locate and search over 120 databases. The most
comprehensive government site only incorporates 14
states into its database. This search would still

9. produce incomplete results and you may miss money
owed to you.
Comprehensive Unclaimed Money Searches
It might be worth considering the small fee to utilize
a private site that has compiled all state and
government databases. Please proceed with caution,
though.
After you have completed your search by name you
will be given results from the database. It may
contain multiple records, some of which are not
yours. The record will normally have details on the
property, the value, institution the funds originated
from, owner address, etc. You should be able to tell
which accounts are yours from a quick look at these
details.
What to do when you find the money
After locating your missing money follow the
directions to submit the claim. The claim process
varies slightly depending on the type of account or
state of claim. Usually the claim consists of filling out
and sending a form or affidavit and copies of
identification or documents relating to the account.

10. Through continued efforts to educate the public on
the topic of unclaimed money more and more
Americans are finding their lost funds. Over $1
Billion was returned last year. It is likely you or your
immediate family members have unclaimed money
or property. Now that you are aware it exists and
know how to find and claim it, you can search for
what is owed to you!
Isn’t it time you claimed your long lost money?
You can download a FREE mobile app that helps you
to find unclaimed money. You can get it from
Google Play - Download the Unclaimed Money App
now!