The governor's proclamation claims Michigan has more than $2 billion in unclaimed property — like uncashed checks, insurance proceeds and other financial assets that are considered lost or abandoned when an owner can't be found after a certain amount of time.
It also says the state holds more than 20 million accounts that need to be returned to Michiganders, adding that the state returns more than $130 million each year.
Federal officials say, at the national level, one in seven Americans have unclaimed property.
"Spread the word, right? Let other people know. Check your family, let your family know if they've got property on our site. We want to return as much as we can, and last year, we did a record for our operation. We returned $138.5 million to Michigan residents," Stanton added. "We find out when we go out and we do outreach. We go to a conference or an event and we have a couple of staff there to search people's names and start a claim for them. We find that it's about one in three that, believe it or not, might have property with us. So, it's far more common than a lot of people think."
If you do have unclaimed property, the state says to click the "claim" button. From there, the state will contact you to let you know what documentation to provide in order to reclaim your property.
Webmaster here – You can do this for any State in the USA. Just contact that state’s Department of Treasury and ask how to do it!
Your Unclaimed Assets Are Waiting For You
How to Find Them
By Mark Kantrowitz, BottomLine Personal May 1, 2021
Tens of billions of dollars are just waiting to be claimed; and you could be the winner. That may sound like a come-on for a sweepstakes promotion, but it's the reality of unclaimed assets hiding in the coffers of state and federal government agencies. To be a winner, you have to know where to look for the assets.
WHERE THEY COME FROM
The assets include retirement plan proceeds from former employers... security deposits released by long-ago landlords... bank and financial accounts sitting dormant for years... insurance policy proceeds... matured savings bonds… and much more.
"Escheatment" laws that cover unclaimed assets require that financial institutions and other businesses hand over assets to state governments if the proper owners cannot be located, and some federal agencies have unclaimed assets, too. These laws vary by state but are growing stricter as governments increasingly view unclaimed assets as a source of revenue. In many states, financial institutions are required to turn over money simply because they have had no contact with the account holder in as little as two or three years. Generally, the assets can be reclaimed without time limits or penalties (although also without further interest payments once they become unclaimed assets).
WHERE AND HOW TO SEARCH
Search state unclaimed-asset databases in every state where you have lived or worked. For most states, you can do this by entering your name and other basic info into the master search page on the website ‘MissingMoney.com’. Eleven states do not share their unclaimed asset data with that site, however, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming. For these states, click "states" on MissingMoney.com, then click the appropriate state on the map to go to its unclaimed-assets online database. Search states even if you haven't lived or worked in them for decades. These sites and searches are free.
If you find a listing for money that seems to be owed to you, follow the directions to reclaim it. The process varies by state but usually requires filling out a form available on the state website.
Helpful: With these state sites; and with the other databases listed below, also search any former names you have used, such as maiden names… common misspellings of your name; i.e., Smith if your name is Smyth, and your name flip-flopped, with first name last and last first if your last name is one that's commonly used as a first name, such as Patrick or Thomas. Typos such as these are one reason why money might have failed to reach you and became lost in the first place.
Search the names of any businesses you owned over the years. And search the names of any now-deceased relatives for whom you were an heir or estate executor. Claiming money that belonged to a deceased relative or to a now-closed business can be challenging. The state is likely to request documentation to establish that you are the proper owner. If the state still does not accept that you are the proper recipient and the amount involved is worth the expense, it might be necessary to hire a probate attorney to help recover the money.
Search for missing retirement plan money if you might have forgotten to roll over a 401 (k) from a long-ago employer or you worked for a company that had a traditional pension plan. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that traditional pension plans, maintains a searchable database of traditional pension benefits at ‘search.PBGC.gov’.
Also check the National Registry of ‘UnclaimedRetirementBenefits.com’ ‘UnclaimedRetirementBenefits.com’ a free service offered by PenChecks, the largest processor of retirement plan benefits. It lists both unclaimed 401(k) assets and traditional pension assets. Widows and widowers should search for pension assets in their deceased spouse's name as well.
If these searches come up empty but you’re concerned that you've lost track of retirement benefits from a particular past employer, additional options include contacting that former employer's human resources department and/or ‘PensionHelp.org’ which provides free assistance with pension problems and is run by the nonprofit Pension Rights Center.
Search for unpaid life insurance benefits. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners offers a free policy locator service that could help you track down life insurance policies and annuity contracts of deceased relatives that name you as a beneficiary. This isn't a searchable database. You’ll have to complete and submit an online form and then wait up to 90 days to see if any participating insurance companies find unclaimed benefits for you.
Search for unredeemed savings bonds. It's very common for people to lose track of US savings bonds. These often are given as gifts to children, then forgotten before the bonds reach maturity. To track them down, complete Treasury Department Form 1048, Claim for Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed United States Savings Bonds TreasuryDirect.gov/forms/sav1048.pdf. This form asks for details that most people don't have, such as the missing bond's issue date and serial number, but file anyway. Include as much detail as you can and leave the rest blank. The most important details to include are your name and Social Security number, if the bond was a gift, the name and Social Security number of the gift giver.
Search for federal income tax refunds due to you. If you were owed a tax refund but didn't file a return, the IRS might owe you money. The catch is that, unlike most unclaimed assets, this type has a deadline. You must file a return within three years of the date of the original deadline. Example: If you were due a refund in 2020 but didn't file, you must file by May 17, 2024, three years after the original 2020 filing deadline of May 17, 2021.
You also might be owed money by the IRS if you filed a return but the refund was returned to the IRS as undeliverable or did not make it into your bank account as an electronic deposit. On ‘IRS.gov/refunds’, click "Check My refund Status" to track a refund filed for during the current year (or final six months of the prior year) or call the IRS at 800-829-1954 to initiate a refund trace.
Search for money you're owed from old FHA-insured mortgages. If you paid Federal Housing Administration insurance on a mortgage, there are two situations where the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) might have money for you...
•You acquired a mortgage loan after September 1, 1983...paid an up-front FHA mortgage insurance premium at closing… and did not default on your mortgage payment. If this is true, you might be owed a refund on a portion of the FHA insurance premiums you paid.
•Your loan originated before September 1, 1983... you made payments on that loan for more than seven years… and your FHA insurance terminated before November 5, 1990. If this is true, you might be eligible for a share of the earnings from the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.
There's an online search tool that can tell you if there's FHA money due to you.
BEWARE FEES AND SCAMS
Some people make a living tracking down other people's unclaimed assets. They search online databases; contact people they find listed there and offer to reunite them with their money in exchange for a cut of the proceeds—from 10% to more than half. Some states, but not all, have laws limiting the amount these asset finders can charge.
Don't agree to this. The person may be a scammer who is trying to get you to reveal personal information such as your Social Security number to steal your identity and/or who tries to convince you to pay an up-front fee and then disappears with your money.
And even if this lost-asset finder is not a scammer, he/she isn't doing anything that you couldn't do yourself in just a few minutes. If you receive a call or an e-mail along these lines, that's a tip-off that you should check the databases for yourself. If you don't find any assets under your name, wait a few months and try again. Sometimes these professional finders pay fees to obtain advance access to new listings that haven't yet found their way into the databases.
Where To Look For Unclaimed Cash
Kim Komando; komando.com
Somehow, money gets lost. We leave cash in odd places. Given how hard we work for money, it’s hard to believe how easily we misplace it. I’m talking about back wages, old 401Ks, bank failures, utility deposits, unclaimed life insurance, FHA refunds, undelivered tax refund checks — the list goes on and on, amounting to billions of dollars. In Arizona, more than $1.5 billion sits in unclaimed property, waiting for rightful owners to collect their cash. One of my editors helped her mother find more than $5,000 that belonged to her mother’s parents who died in the 1990s. She found two life insurance policies, retirement benefits and rebates from utilities sitting unclaimed in her grandparents’ names for more than 20 years. The best part: it’s free, and it’s yours. Helping everyday citizens claim lost money is one of the duties of the U.S. Treasury Department. You don’t need to hire a dubious service or spend money to make money. You are entitled to those funds.
If anyone asks for payment to help you find unclaimed property, ditch them.
Here are effective ways to track down those dormant dollars.
START YOUR SEARCH FOR MISSING MONEY IN YOUR HOME STATE
Finding money is pretty simple, but your search depends on where you live. Each state has an independent treasury website, which has a special search function for unpaid dues. Follow the step-by-step instructions, enter your information and the database will do the rest.
- As always, use a secure network; this is precisely the kind of data that cybercriminals love to gather and use against you.
- Make sure the treasury site has a “.gov” address. There are plenty of scammers on the internet, and phony websites are possible.
- If you have a name that is frequently misspelled, or has variations that are often confused — Schmid, Schmidt, Schmitt — search those misspellings on the unclaimed fund’s site as well.
Online: In Michigan, go to unclaimedproperty.michigan.gov.
SEARCH FOR UNCLAIMED PROPERTY NATIONALLY
If you’ve lived, or done business, in many states, I recommend using MissingMoney, which is designed to connect you to the correct treasury departments. MissingMoney is a free government search site. All the site asks for is your name and your resident state(s). Living in several places complicates the process, so you may have to sift through the results; you likely will find other residents with the same name. But MissingMoney aggregates the financial data in one place.
Online: missingmoney.com
CHECK THE IRS FOR UNCLAIMED TAX REFUNDS
If you think the IRS might owe you money, you can file a claim to the IRS to update them about your new address. Additionally, if an employer withholds funds from you, the IRS gives you up to three years to submit a claim to collect the money you are owed. If you haven’t moved, and you’re just curious where your refund is, the IRS can explain exactly where it is and when you should expect to receive it.
Online: irs.gov/refunds.
LOOK FOR RETIREMENT FUNDS
Every retirement plan is different, and things can get complicated if you move from one company to another. As a former employee, it’s your task to see whether past benefits or retirement savings can be transferred or cashed out. Similarly, pension plans and retirement benefits are controlled by different governmental sectors. If you need to search for what money you are entitled to, you can find either online. The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits will help you find money being held from prior employers, while the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation can assist in your search for money tied into pension plans.
Online: unclaimedretirementbenefits.com and pbgc.gov/wr/trusteed/plans
HOW TO COLLECT THOSE FUNDS
Each website details how to collect your earnings, and you can expect to complete paperwork and to provide proof of your identity. You may even need to have signatures notarized. The time to collect depends on each government agency; it can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but it works. Make it an annual practice to search for unclaimed funds. Do it on an anniversary, your birthday, Fourth of July, or some other important day that you’ll remember each year. — Copyright 2019, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved. For daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit Komando.com.