US Treasury Unclaimed Money – Where US Government Unclaimed Money Comes from? US Treasury unclaimed money comes from unclaimed saving bonds and unclaimed payments. These saving bonds and payments go unclaimed as they are undeliverable. Typically, saving bond takes 30 years or so to achieve its final maturity. When it does not earn interest anymore, it is often forgotten by the owners. Under the US Department of Treasury, the money remains safe and unclaimed because the rightful owners have not chased it. Furthermore, there are also high possibilities that you are owed money by the government.
Common US government unclaimed money is from federal tax refunds. For undelivered tax refund cases, it is mostly because the owners move to other places without changing or informing the current addresses. The unclaimed tax refunds can be searched through Internal Revenue Service website. IRS has put a web feature named “Where’s My Refund?” to help you regain your asset back.
The money from failed banks, failed credit unions, failed insurance companies, and failed investment corporations are safely kept by the state. The state law obliges those institutions which hold citizens’ money to turn over the money to the state when they cannot deliver it to the rightful owners. It is including abandoned safety deposits, overtime checks, forgotten apartment security deposits, unclaimed life insurance payouts, unclaimed pension or retirement benefits, and unclaimed stock accounts. The money is held by the states where those institutions are based. Therefore, the owners are still able to reclaim the assets with no limitation time.
Where to Search US Treasury Unclaimed Money
Federal unclaimed fund database can help American citizens to get back the unclaimed money. However, there is no central website for finding your unclaimed money. Instead, there are two official and possible websites to help you figure out how to discover your buried treasure. As the rightful owners, you can precede unclaimed government money search through visiting these websites below.
The first is the TreasuryHunt.gov. This is an official website run by US Department of Treasury. Once you are on the page, just find and click the “Start Search” button. Then you will be brought to a page which asks you to type your social security number or employee identification number in the provided column. You will need to follow certain instructions if you have money waiting to be claimed. You can cash or start doing something with your unclaimed saving bonds. Unfortunately, this federal unclaimed fund database is limited. It only records saving bonds published from 1974 and later.
The second website is Unclaimed.org. It is an organized state government database which helps you to connect to the official homepage for government unclaimed money search. The steps are simply helpful. There will be a map showing the states, and you need to click in which state you want to find your unclaimed fund. Instantly, you will be linked to the official site of your designated state’s unclaimed fund search. Once you are on the state’s unclaimed fund page, you need to fill out the identity data. You need to input your name or may be other identifying information. Then you will be informed whether or not you have unclaimed money held by the government or the state. If you have property that belongs to you, you will be guided to certain instructions to process your claim. Those two websites are run by federal government and state government, so they are safe for starting your unclaimed government money search.
References:
- Unclaimed Money from the Government – https://www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money
- National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrator – http://www.unclaimed.org/
- Image: money.cnn.com
