Do You Have Money Waiting For You? States Hold Billions In Unclaimed Property

August 3, 2009

You may have money waiting for you and not even know it. Hundreds of North Escambia residents do, as do any area governmental entities.

money1.jpgThe Florida Department of Financial Services holds unclaimed accounts valued at more than $1 billion, mostly from dormant accounts in financial institutions, insurance and utility companies, securities and trust holdings. Unclaimed Property also includes tangible property such as jewelry, coins, currency, stamps, historical items and other miscellaneous articles from safe deposit boxes. But most of the time, it is good old American cash (well, really checks).

In spending just a few minutes searching Florida’s unclaimed property site, it is easy to see that hundreds of North Escambia residents are owed money. Money that they can claim simply by asking for it and doing a little simple paperwork.

For some random examples, there are about 40 people in the Century zip code with a last name beginning with “S’ that have money for the asking.  Names like Scott, Smith, Stewart, and Stallworth. There are about 15 people with last names that being with “C” in the Molino zip code with unclaimed money…people with last names like Childress, Criswell and Chastang. In the McDavid zip code, almost 30 people with last names that start with “B” have unclaimed funds. There are last names like Bradley, Brown and Burgess on the list.

How do you find out if you have unclaimed money waiting for you in Florida? It’s a free and simple process. Visit www.fltreasurehunt.org and search for your name. Then you fill out a few simple forms to claim your money. The whole process is free; there are no fees involved.

If you are an Alabama resident, or believe you might have unclaimed property in Alabama, you can visit the Alabama State Treasurer’s website.

NorthEscambia.com also discovered that many local governments and entities have funds owed to them that they have not claimed. The Town of Century, Escambia County, the Walnut Hill and Century volunteer fire departments, Molino Utilities and even the Byrneville Community Center all have unclaimed property.

Comments

6 Responses to “Do You Have Money Waiting For You? States Hold Billions In Unclaimed Property”

  1. williams jeremiah on September 23rd, 2009 4:39 pm

    not right now

  2. Lowell Burton on August 16th, 2009 2:55 am

    Would like to know if I have any money coming to me.

  3. Brenda on August 5th, 2009 9:20 pm

    Well, they would NOT do that!!! We called and asked them. I remind you that this is a NATIONWIDE insurance company. I’m not stupid. We tried to have the check made out to us. No go…Oh well, we have moved on after 26 years with the same “Nationwide” company.

  4. Lynn on August 4th, 2009 9:11 am

    You shouldn’t have just put the check in a drawer and not done anything. As the insured on the policy, you should’ve been able to request a new one be issued in just your name. You have the legal right to receive the money, less your deductible, in your name only if that was what you wanted. But this should’ve been done at the time the check was issued!

  5. Just thinking on August 4th, 2009 6:18 am

    Well,in a way,that’s partly your fault……….

  6. Brenda on August 3rd, 2009 10:17 pm

    Just because you have unclaimed property does not necessarily mean you can get your property! There are so many technicalities. We had an insurance claim for hail damage with a major “nationwide” insurance company. They wrote a pre-repair check to us and the SUGGESTED repair shop. We decided to NOT have the Bondo repair work on the roof of our new pickup truck back in 1997 (vehicle was a 1996 model). We simply put the check in a drawer. Years later we heard that we had money available with the State of Florida. We made a claim for this and received ONLY HALF of the check because it was written to us AND the repair shop who never even touched our vehicle or saw the vehicle. We paid the premiums but could not receive the entire amount. Thanks for the link anyway. The State of Florida still has half of the check for the damages that we suffered.