You May Have Unclaimed Money... Here's How to Find It!

However cliche it is, we’ve all had moments where we think to ourselves: self, I wish money grew on trees. And unfortunately… we don’t have the science to make that happen... yet!

But I have something pretty close. Get ready, I’m about to blow your mind.

So, what is unclaimed money, you ask? Basically, it’s money that on paper “belongs” to someone, or that someone is entitled to, but they haven’t scooped it up yet.

And it’s actually very common…. There are billions of dollars of unclaimed money in the United States. Yes… that’s billions with a B.

And some of that moolah may have your name on it. Here are six places you could find unclaimed money:

1. Your State

• If a bank, insurance company, or even state government, owes you money and can’t track you down… they send your money to the state’s unclaimed property office. Did you know that exists? It’s basically the Island of Misfit Toys, but for your money. It sounds made up, but it happens pretty often. In a lot of cases, cash ends up in the unclaimed property office when someone moves out of state and there’s an issue with the forwarding address; then the money trail gets lost in the void, and your money gets sent to Uncle Sam.

• To see if this is your lucky day, check out: https://www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money

2. Your Paycheck

• If you left a job in the middle of a pay period, or left a job with unclaimed vacation days, OR, if you worked from an employer that broke a labor law… you may be owed money.

• You can find this by going to the stellar website (yes, this is one of my favorite sites of all time - they do not pay me to say that, it’s just the truth): https://unclaimed.org/

• You could also go to the US Department of Labor website. They have a database of workers who have money waiting to be claimed. The DOL holds unpaid wages for up to three years, so get this done today. Here’s the site: https://webapps.dol.gov/wow/

3. A Savings Bond

• I’ve heard this story a million times: when you were little, you really wanted that shiny bike or whatever... but grandpa gave you that savings bond and you wanted to rip it up right then and there… and then your mom, or whoever, put it in a shoebox and said she would keep it for you until you were old enough. Right? Are you now thinking: yeah… whatever happened to that?

• Well, if that savings bond has matured, you may finally be able to get that bike- and then some. Go to https://treasuryhunt.gov/ to see if you have a bond that has stopped earning interest that you can collect. Don’t forget - if you’re under 18, the bond may be under your parent’s name.

4. Tax Refund

• There may have been a time where you didn’t think you needed to fill out a tax return because you didn’t reach a certain income level… but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have gotten a refund!

• Go to the IRS website to see if you have any unclaimed tax return moolah.

5. Utility Deposit

• This may or may not surprise you depending on what kind of landlords you’ve had in your housing journey... but not every landlord is itching to give you back your security deposit. I’ve talked to so many people who don’t think about their security deposit once they move out. Did your landlord actually initiate that refund? Did you ever even look? If not, the time is now. Go back, check your bank statement and see if you ever got that security deposit back… and start teeing up a follow-up email to your old landlord... I’m sure he or she misses you, anyway.

6. Class Action Lawsuits

• We all have seen ads for class action lawsuits… these ads normally broadcast in the dead of the night and are for some form of vaginal mesh and are high-key very scary BUT there are actually a ton of active class action lawsuits right now across a wide range of industries, and you may be eligible to cash in on a settlement!

• Check out classaction.org/database to see if there are any ongoing suits that you could be a part of.

Like I said, finding unclaimed money is common… and these tips are real! I did this most recently before doing a TV segment on unclaimed money, and I found some moolah myself! Now it’s your turn.

xo,