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Jordan Goodman is the author of Everyone's Money Book, available at 888-201-6300. This is the third edition of the book. You can also visit his Web site at www.moneyanswers.com. He talks with us on Thursday mornings.
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February 12, 2004
"Recovering Unclaimed Property"
Marketplace reported last week that the IRS announced that $2.5 billion in
tax refunds is about to be forfeited if the 2 million Americans owed the
money doesn't claim it.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg of unclaimed funds in this country.
It is estimated that up to $16 billion in unclaimed property exists, and it
grows by the billions every year. Some examples:
Bank accounts
Life insurance policies
401 k and other employee benefits
Mutual fund accounts
Real estate
Savings bonds and other Treasuries
Pension benefits
The problem is that people move without providing a forwarding address,
die, divorce or disappear in various ways so the recordkeeper for the
assets cannot find the rightful owner anymore.
Assets officially become "unclaimed" if the legitimate holder of the assets
cannot be found after three to five years through public advertisements and
notices. At that point, the companies must turn the assets over to the
state, which keeps the money.
Here is what you can do to find unclaimed assets:
Check into Web sites that help you find assets, such as
www.missingmoney.com, which is sponsored by the National Association of
Unclaimed Property Administrators. You enter your name and zip code and you
are given a list of property being held for you and the estimated value,
either under or over $100.
To get a list of the unclaimed property office in your state, look at
www.unclaimed.org, which also links to state Web sites.
To find unclaimed property of particular types, check with the organization
that is their record-keeper. Treasury Department (www.ustreas.gov) for
savings bonds and Treasuries, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
(www.pbgc.gov, or 800-400-7242) for pensions, brokerage firms, banks and
insurance companies for those assets.
Get copies of records from your parents and grandparents, such as from
the town hall where they lived, to prove their home address and when they
lived there, burial records, bank and insurance statements and the like.
Social Security might have payroll records.
Watch out for private firms claiming to find millions of dollars for you.
It is possible they have found something, and if they get it legitimately,
they may ask for as much as 40% of it. It might be worth giving up 40% of
something, instead of getting nothing. Just don’t pay them any advance fees
for promises of riches -- use the Web sites to look for yourself first.
For More Financial Tips From Jordan Goodman
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