What Is Unclaimed Property?

If you’ve ever moved in the U.S., you probably know that after a move, plenty of mail—and even checks—may still be sent to your old address. If nobody forwards those checks to you and they aren’t returned, they can eventually become Unclaimed Property. In fact, a huge amount of Unclaimed Property is generated in the U.S. every year. For example, in one state where I used to live, 1.2 million people had Unclaimed Property with a total value of more than $1 billion, which is pretty staggering.

The scope of Unclaimed Property is actually quite broad. It can include bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed checks, insurance benefits, wages, and safe deposit box contents. Once these assets are confirmed to be unclaimed for a certain period of time, they are transferred to each state’s State Controller’s Office or equivalent agency, and the records are kept on file. Of course, the government mainly maintains these records and generally does not spend much effort tracking down the owners.

If you can confirm that some of these assets belong to you, you can fill out a form and submit the required supporting documents to claim them. You may also be able to claim property that belonged to a deceased family member. Common examples of Unclaimed Property include:

  • Refund checks from insurance companies, utilities, or mobile carriers, which may be issued after you close an account or switch providers
  • Refund checks issued by a bank due to a credit card Negative Balance
  • Settlement checks from a Class Action, since these often take 1-3 years to be completed and mailed out
  • Refund checks for a bank-issued Prepaid card that was closed while there was still unused balance on it

How to Search for Unclaimed Property

There is no single nationwide website in the U.S. that manages Unclaimed Property. Each state has its own office dedicated to handling it, and you can usually search directly on that state’s website. The site below lists the Unclaimed Property search page for each state. You can also just use google to search for “state + unclaimed property”; in most cases, the first result is the official one. Just be careful not to click on ads.

I’d recommend that everyone do a quick search. If there’s money waiting for you, it’s definitely worth finding—especially if you’ve moved before or have already left the U.S. I randomly searched a common Chinese last name and found quite a lot of money, including many entries over $100.

Some states may also proactively mail you a notice letting you know that you have unclaimed property, in which case you can contact the corresponding company directly.

Note that Unclaimed Property does not include things like government tax return checks, unpaid wages from employers, or insurance claims that have not yet been paid. For those types of assets, see the link below:

Step-by-Step Example

Below is a simple example of how to search for and claim Unclaimed Property in California. Since this is handled at the state level, the exact process and requirements may vary from state to state. Just follow the instructions on your own state’s unclaimed Property website and provide the requested documents.

  • Select Search for Unclaimed Property, then enter your name and city. If the results are not too broad, it may be better to leave the address field blank, so differences in address formatting don’t cause you to miss a match.
  • In the search results, you’ll be able to see all related records. Be sure to verify the address and whether the reported by field looks familiar.
  • Add all items that match your information, then check out together. (California’s process really does feel a bit like online shopping.)
  • The next step is very important: you’ll need to fill in the required information, especially your personal details, so the government can verify that the money is yours.
  • California also states that if you currently owe money to the government, your claim may be used to offset that debt.

Bottom Line

Unclaimed Property is money that belongs to you but may have been overlooked, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to search. That said, this is probably just a tiny slice of all the money consumers leave behind. For example, there’s almost certainly even more money left sitting on unused gift cards—which is one reason merchants rarely lose money selling them.