There's billions of dollars in unclaimed money in the US - Check to see if you're owed money

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The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), says there’s billions of dollars of unclaimed funds in the U.S. (Getty Images) 

According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), there are billions of dollarof dollars of unclaimed funds or property held by financial institutions, businesses, and state and federal government agencies. There are several ways to see if you may have unclaimed money or property. 

Dig deeper:

What is unclaimed property? 

There are two types of unclaimed property – intangible and tangible.  

Examples of tangible property:

• Safe deposit Box Contents: Jewelry, coins, stamps, and collectibles.
• Physical paper certificates: Stocks, bonds, or documents.
• Items left with businesses for repair or storage that are forgotten and never picked up.

Examples of intangible property: 

• Checking or savings accounts
• Stocks
• Uncashed dividends or payroll checks
• Refunds
• Traveler’s checks
• Trust distributions
• Unredeemed money orders or gift certificates (in some states)
• Certificates of deposit
• Customer overpayments
• Utility security deposits
• Mineral royalty payments
• Insurance payments or refunds and life insurance policies
• Annuities

By the numbers:

NAUPA says approximately 1 in 7 people in the U.S. have unclaimed cash or property waiting to be claimed.  NAUPA says in fiscal year 2024, July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, states returned over $4.49 billion to owners.

Search for unclaimed property

What you can do:

There are numerous ways to search online for unclaimed property. At both Missingmoney.com  and Unclaimed.org you can search by state.

The federal government has several ways to search.  At USA.gov  you can search for  unclaimed funds held by the government that might be owed to you.

In addition, you can search the Department of Labor for any missing paychecks, check to see if you have abandoned U.S. Savings Bonds at the U.S. Treasury and if the IRS is holding uncashed tax refund checks.

The IRS says each year, millions of federal and state tax refunds go undelivered or unclaimed and there is no penalty for failure to file if a refund is due to the taxpayer.  The IRS says a return to claim a refund must be filed within three years of its due date for a refund to be allowed. If a taxpayer does not file within the three-year window, the IRS says the refund becomes property of the U.S. Treasury.