As part of a different thread [www.mysteryshopforum.com] the topic of unclaimed funds came up. I thought it would be fun to start a separate thread to see others' experiences.

Here is the link for US and parts of Canada [www.unclaimed.org]

If you find money, let us know! And if you have plans for the unexpected windfall, would you mind sharing?

I found money twice. The first time was $500+ and was put towards a vacation. The second time was $100+ and was applied towards bills.

How about you?

I had a whopping $9.51 from a former employer. I have found friends various amounts from $90.00 to $750. Everyone was overjoyed to get the windfall. I have one person who refuses to collect their money though. It's over $100 from a utility deposit, but, he won't do anything over the internet! He is positive that his identity will be stolen if he puts his information on line. Which is funny as he had his Federal refund stolen out of his mail box this year because he wouldn't direct deposit it, and, his identity was hacked through his medical insurance.

I notified several family members that they had money. We're in a state that doesn't disclose online how much is owed to you. Some relatives shrugged and said it's probably too small to bother with and didn't go any further.

In my state, we aren't able to collect the money online. We must print out a form and mail it to the Comptroller's office and we receive a check. Maybe your anti-internet friend could look into doing something similar? And my unsolicited advice--he needs a padlock for his mailbox

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2016 11:39AM by ChrisCooper.

Funny how money turns the best people ugly, seen family destroyed for less than $3000. Did you split the money or did your Aunt demand it all? I received a phone call from a lawyer asking if I knew a friend of my sister who died about two years ago. My late sister lived and cared for her for eight years leaving over $1.60 million dollars in a trust fund and insurance policies. The lady and my sister did not know she had access to that kind of money or they probably would have not lived a government subsides flats. There are no living relatives in the United States or any place according to their legal research team. Make a Will or Living Trust because lawyers love to play with large sums of money. The lady my late sister was caregiver too only received $2000 a month because the lawyers felt that was enough. Why would a parent leave only $2,000 if the trust is worth over $2 million to their mentally handicap daughter? Lawyers get a certain percentage managing a trust fund, a friend I went to school with father left him everything. Imagine a old Serbian inventor who never spoke to his only child leaving such a crazy styled trust he could lose it all if he did not obey all the rules his late father left. I found some cash with unclaimed funds, got used on fun so thank you for bringing up another site for people find unknown treasure.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2016 06:32PM by GuyFawkes.

@GuyFawkes wrote:

Funny how money turns the best people ugly, seen family destroyed for less than $3000. Did you split the money or did your Aunt demand it all? I received a phone call from a lawyer asking if I knew a friend of my sister who died about two years ago. My late sister lived and cared for her for eight years leaving over $1.60 million dollars in a trust fund and insurance policies. The lady and my sister did not know she had access to that kind of money or they probably would have lived in non government subsides flats. There are no living relatives in the United States or any place according to their legal research team. Make a Will or Living Trust because lawyers love to play with large sums of money. The lady my late sister was caregiver too only received $2000 a month because the lawyers felt that was enough. Why would a parent leave only $2,000 if the trust is worth over $2 million to their mentally handicap daughter?

Guy, sorry that your sister wasn't able to collect on that large sum. You're right. We should all make sure that we have up-to-date wills so that the money/property goes to the people we want it to go to.

The $3000 was my aunt's last paycheck before she retired. How that money wound up in unclaimed funds is a mystery to me. Anyway, she kept it all and that was fine with me. I never expected anything for just telling her to check out the website. And it was pay that she earned. All is well.

@cindy55 wrote:

I had a whopping $9.51 from a former employer. I have found friends various amounts from $90.00 to $750. Everyone was overjoyed to get the windfall. I have one person who refuses to collect their money though. It's over $100 from a utility deposit, but, he won't do anything over the internet! He is positive that his identity will be stolen if he puts his information on line. Which is funny as he had his Federal refund stolen out of his mail box this year because he wouldn't direct deposit it, and, his identity was hacked through his medical insurance.

We have a saying in IT security: "If you don't bank online, someone will do it for you". And that's applicable to a number of other things...

Unfortunately, I've never found any money I have missed. Though on the other hand I know that's because I always follow up to collect the last penny from anyone I do business with

I saw the post on the other thread and went over to check it out. My husband and I don't have any outstanding funds unfortunately but I did see $100+ for my mom. I will help her try to claim it and maybe I can convince her to do something fun with it!

@GuyFawkes wrote:

Funny how money turns the best people ugly, seen family destroyed for less than $3000. Did you split the money or did your Aunt demand it all?

It was her money; money that she earned. How is that ugly? I'm sure she made the comment thinking it was $20 or something.

After my grandfather died, there were more than forty accounts unclaimed in the system. Since my dad's name is the same, he simply filled out the paperwork (it would have gone to him anyway, but would've taken much longer). I occasionally check these sites and email friends and family when they have something coming. On another note, it is a wonderful resource for skip-tracing.

She said she would split it and reneged because of the amount. What difference does the amount make after giving your word to someone? It is actually rather ugly. Under the circumstances she could have offered her nephew something for money she would not have otherwise.

I'm another one who has apparently never left money on the table. I have used my state's website before and found my mother a whopping 39 cents. She hasn't bothered to collect

i don't understand how people's money go into unclaimed funds. I can see if you are deceased but I always seek out my money before moving on. I work in publisher/artist royalties but they are different. An average person hunts for their money. LOL!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2016 01:34AM by rosaestanli.

@LisaSTL wrote:

She said she would split it and reneged because of the amount. What difference does the amount make after giving your word to someone? It is actually rather ugly. Under the circumstances she could have offered her nephew something for money she would not have otherwise.

I'm another one who has apparently never left money on the table. I have used my state's website before and found my mother a whopping 39 cents. She hasn't bothered to collect

There's a saying in Business Law, "A verbal contract is not worth the paper its written on"! I hope nobody has to deal with lawyers and suing over Wills because your family can get ugly over money. Chris should have gotten a few hundred dollars at minimum, why are certain people so greedy? Sorry Chris, at least your building up good Karma or good something awesome!

Never for one second did I ever think I'd lose track of money owed to me. Yet, I've found money twice. At first I felt cavalier about losing it, but it can show up for any number of reasons. If you buy an AMEX gift card for someone and the recipient doesn't use it, the funds show up for you as unclaimed. (not the gift cards purchased at a retail store, but sent from your own personal AMEX account).

I shared too much information on this thread and I'm feeling sad. For everyone who speculated about why my aunt kept the money...you're all partially right. She said she would split it thinking it might be enough for the 2 of us to have lunch one day. But, it turned out to be part of her earned income. She lived, worked, and banked at the same locations since the 1970s, so it's beyond comprehension how that money was lost to begin with. Anyway, I never expected any repayment for "finding" the money, so there were never any hard feelings.

My aunt was a wonderful, selfless woman who cared deeply about her family. I regret that I shared details that caused strangers to view her in a negative light. I will edit out my remarks in the previous post that caused this to happen.

On a MUCH lighter note, this was supposed to be a fun post. If you find anything on the site, let us know, just don't let us know too much

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2016 11:49AM by ChrisCooper.

@rosaestanli wrote:

i don't understand how people's money go into unclaimed funds. I can see if you are deceased but I always seek out my money before moving on. I work in publisher/artist royalties but they are different. An average person hunts for their money. LOL!

Years ago I used that website and found roughly $500 in unclaimed funds for me. I too always seek out money before moving on, but in my case, it was money from some type of investment account that my ex-uncle had established for me many years prior. I was in my early 20s and didn't know that I had that money coming to me.

I have looked regularly for years and have never found anything in Unclaimed Funds.

Back in the seventies when interest rates were skyrocketing I moved to another state and left some money ( a relatively small amount, less than $150.) in a banking account and had forgotten it, somehow. Years later, in the eighties, I checked the search site and discovered that the amount I had forgotten had grown to over $400. Nice little windfall!

I have found money three times for relatives. Once a forgotten utility deposit for my brother who moved from Tennessee to Pennsylvania and just forgot about. I also found a forgotten utility deposit for my deceased grandmother - my uncle and aunt are the only surviving children and so far they have not claimed. I also found two shares of BP stock owned by my deceased grandfather (d. 1973) There is one surviving child - my uncle - and he has not claimed. I still look once in awhile just for fun.

You cleared up how you view your Aunt, who are we to challenge someone who has the full facts. Your allowed to steer the conversation away from negatives by explaining you love her and appreciate all that's good with her. Glad she got her $3,000 instead of allowing the State to swipe her cash!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2016 01:35AM by GuyFawkes.

Thanks for the post Chris. I found a $215 refund that I would otherwise not have known about, plus one for $5.00, and another for 20 cents lol.