(Part 1 of 2)

As the smallest state in the nation, Rhode Island is understandably nicknamed "Little Rhody", but there is nothing small about the amount of Rhode Island unclaimed money currently being held by the RI Office of the General Treasurer. According to the office's web site, the state is now holding more than 124 million dollars of the citizens' money, and the only thing preventing people from taking back their money is knowledge and the ability to search correctly.

It's easy to understand why people have difficulty accepting the reality of unclaimed funds because no one expects they can get free money. But "free" isn't exactly the proper term to describe these lost assets, because they technically already belong to the residents who are able to claim them (except in situations where they come from a relative who passed away). So people who dismiss this phenomenon as some sort of myth are doing themselves a great disservice by not recognizing exactly where this money comes from.

(to be continued)

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Founder of Found Money, Edward Palonek and Santa Claus find people … - PR Urgent

Founder of Found Money, Edward Palonek and Santa Claus find people … PR Urgent - 17 hours ago What a great Christmas gift, finding some of your missing money”, says Palonek. “Foundmoney was the first company to make the national database of unclaimed …

Do you have unclaimed money? - WPTV

Do you have unclaimed money? WPTV, FL - Nov 24, 2008 If you’re from another state, Sink says Florida’s website can even link you to other states’ websites in case you have forgotten unclaimed cash sitting in …

Unclaimed Money To Rise To RM95 Million This Year - Bernama

Unclaimed Money To Rise To RM95 Million This Year Bernama, Malaysia - Dec 4, 2008 KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) — The amount of unclaimed money under the Unclaimed Money Registry is expected to go up to RM95 million this year, …

Tour of 72 counties returns millions in assets - Superior Telegram

Tour of 72 counties returns millions in assets Superior Telegram, MN - Dec 4, 2008 Under Wisconsin law, after one to five years of inactivity Wisconsin businesses are mandated to turn all unclaimed money, stock and safe deposit boxes to …

(Part 2 of 2)

More often than not, people stand in their own way of locating their unclaimed property by doing things like looking on the wrong sites and searching just once. Not all unclaimed property sites are equal. Many do not have any real lost money records, and even the few that do often contain mostly old data. Even actual state records are often inaccurate due to the fact that they are not updated in real time. Given that assets are handed over constantly, and each type has a unique dormancy period, a claim for a given resident's name may not be added to the database until the day, week or month after they search, leaving them with the false conclusion that they aren't owed money.

Although in recent years Rhode Island has increased efforts to hand back missing money to the true owners, more money keeps coming in than is given back to the owners, so the total will keep on growing, giving each citizen a greater chance of finding a claim. The state simply doesn't have the capability to efficiently track down everyone who is owed money so the best thing residents of Rhode Island can do is to study how to search like professional finders do, and then use those tactics to maximize their searching abilities.

-

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth - ABC News

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth ABC News - Nov 25, 2008 "We want people to get reunited with their money," joked IRS spokesperson Eric Smith. The unclaimed money goes back into the Treasury until its recipients …

Tour of 72 counties returns millions in assets - Superior Telegram

Tour of 72 counties returns millions in assets Superior Telegram, MN - 2 hours ago Under Wisconsin law, after one to five years of inactivity Wisconsin businesses are mandated to turn all unclaimed money, stock and safe deposit boxes to …

Unclaimed Money To Rise To RM95 Million This Year - Bernama

Unclaimed Money To Rise To RM95 Million This Year Bernama, Malaysia - 17 hours ago KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) — The amount of unclaimed money under the Unclaimed Money Registry is expected to go up to RM95 million this year, …

Virginia May Owe You Hundreds of Dollars - WCAV

Virginia May Owe You Hundreds of Dollars WCAV, VA - Dec 3, 2008 One out of seven Virginians has unclaimed property. Charlottesville's Treasurer and City Council invited the state unclaimed property outreach team to City …

Do you have unclaimed money? - WPTV

Do you have unclaimed money? WPTV, FL - Nov 24, 2008 If you’re from another state, Sink says Florida’s website can even link you to other states’ websites in case you have forgotten unclaimed cash sitting in …

(Part 1 of 2)

As the smallest state in the country, Rhode Island is justifiably nicknamed "Little Rhody", but there is nothing little about the amount of Rhode Island unclaimed money currently being held by the Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer. According to the office's website, the state now holds more than 124 million dollars of the peoples' cash, and the only thing preventing people from taking back their money is knowledge and the ability to properly search.

It is easy to understand why people have trouble accepting the reality of unclaimed property because no one expects to get free money. But "free" is not exactly the proper term to describe these forgotten funds, because they actually already belong to the people who can claim them (except in situations where they come from a deceased relative). So people who dismiss this potential windfall as some sort of scam are doing themselves a great disservice by not realizing exactly where these properties come from.

According to the Office of the General Treasurer's website, the following are some of the most common types of unclaimed properties in Rhode Island: bank accounts, stocks and dividends, wages, refunds, safe deposit boxes, insurance payments, gift certificates, credit memos, account receivable credits and payables. There are quite a few other types, but those listed are the most common, and each kind is found to be "unclaimed" or abandoned after a particular number of years of inactivity. Once this dormancy period has gone by, the holders must to pass them along to the state for holding until the rightful owner makes a claim on them. The state never actually takes possession of them, so there is not a time limit to claim lost money.

Even after learning the process by which assets become unclaimed, it's still difficult to wrap our brains around the fact that there are hundreds of millions waiting to be found by Rhode Island residents, and tens of billions nationwide. It is difficult to accept that people have simply forgotten about these monies, but the truth is they have. In fact experts estimate that nationally 7 in 10 people are due a claim. The trouble is understanding how to track down and claim our money.

(to be continued)

-

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth - ABC News

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth ABC News - Nov 25, 2008 "We want people to get reunited with their money," joked IRS spokesperson Eric Smith. The unclaimed money goes back into the Treasury until its recipients …

Money Still Available From Unclaimed Stimulus Checks (KSLA-TV Shreveport)
SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - There's money up for grabs, as IRS says some people still haven't claimed their economic stimulus checks from earlier this year.

IRS has unclaimed money - Liberty Vindicator

KCBS

IRS has unclaimed money Liberty Vindicator, TX - Nov 8, 2008 To view a list of Liberty County residents who have unclaimed money, visit www.thevindicator.com starting Sunday evening. Millions in Tax Refunds, Rebates Unclaimed WalletPop 105 stimulus checks for Racine County residents are unclaimed Journal Times IRS Has Unclaimed Checks for 107 County Residents Cape May County Herald TMCnet all 36 news articles

(Part 2 of 2)

Even after learning the process by which funds become unclaimed, it is still tough to wrap our brains around the fact that there are hundreds of millions owed to Rhode Island residents, and tens of billions across the nation. It's hard to accept that people have somehow just forgotten about these monies, but the truth is they have. In fact it has been estimated that in the United States 7 in 10 people are owed money. The trouble is understanding how to find and claim our money.

More often than not, people get in their own way of finding their unclaimed funds by doing things like using the wrong sites and searching only one time. Not all unclaimed funds sites are the same. Many don't have any actual missing money records, and even those that do often have mostly outdated data. Even official state records are often not accurate because they are not updated in real time. Given that assets are handed over constantly, and each type has a unique dormancy period, a listing for a given person's name might not be added to the database until the day, week or month after they searched, leaving them with the incorrect impression that they aren't owed money.

Although in recent years Rhode Island has stepped up attempts to give back forgotten funds to the rightful owners, more money continues to come in than is returned to the owners, so the total will keep on growing, giving all citizens a better chance of discovering a claim. The state simply does not have the ability to efficiently track down everyone who has money coming to them so the best thing people from Rhode Island can do is to study how to search like expert finders do, and then use those tactics to maximize their searching abilities.

-

State May Take Unclaimed Bottle Deposits (Eyewitness News 3 Hartford)
Gov. M. Jodi Rell is proposing that state government take control of the millions of dollars in bottle and can deposits that soda and beer drinkers in Connecticut leave unclaimed each year.

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth - ABC News

Come Get Your Money — $266 Million Worth ABC News - Nov 25, 2008 "We want people to get reunited with their money," joked IRS spokesperson Eric Smith. The unclaimed money goes back into the Treasury until its recipients …

Claim your check from Gainesville public utilities, else it goes … - Gainesville Times

Claim your check from Gainesville public utilities, else it goes … Gainesville Times, GA - 41 minutes ago If the money isn’t claimed within a certain amount of time: "We are required by the state to turn it in as unclaimed property, and all the money goes to the …

(Part 1 of 2)

As the littlest state in the country, Rhode Island is justifiably known as "Little Rhody", but there's nothing small about the amount of Rhode Island unclaimed money currently currently sitting in the Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer. According to the office's website, the state is now holding in excess of $124 million of the peoples' cash, and the only thing stopping people from taking back their money is knowledge and the ability to properly search.

It's easy to understand why people have trouble accepting the reality of unclaimed funds because no one expects to get free money. But "free" isn't exactly the correct term to describe these lost assets, because they technically already belong to the residents who are able to claim them (except in cases where they come from a deceased relative). So people who dismiss this potential windfall as some kind of scam are doing themselves a great disservice by not realizing exactly where these properties come from.

According to the Office of the General Treasurer's website, what follows are some of the most common types of unclaimed properties in Rhode Island: account receivable credits and payables, insurance payments, safe deposit boxes, credit memos, gift certificates, stocks and dividends, bank accounts, refunds, wages. There are quite a few other types, but those listed are the most common, and each kind is found to be "unclaimed" or abandoned after a particular number of years of inactivity. After this dormancy period has gone by, the holders must to pass them along to the state for holding until the true owner makes a claim on them. The state will never actually take possession of them, which means there is no time limit to claim missing money.

(to be continued)

-

Lawmakers return Monday to tackle deficit (Boston Globe)
State lawmakers are returning to the Capitol to tackle the current fiscal year deficit, estimated at more than $300 million.

Unclaimed money - News Enterprise

Unclaimed money News Enterprise, KY - Nov 3, 2008 While the IRS will mail unclaimed regular refunds when taxpayers file with a new address next year, taxpayers who want their undelivered stimulus checks …

Unclaimed money may be yours - The Cherokeean Herald

Unclaimed money may be yours The Cherokeean Herald, TX - Nov 4, 2008 However, many more residents have unclaimed property that was not published. To find out if a person has money in the state treasury go to the state …

(Part 2 of 2)

According to the Office of the General Treasurer's web site, the following are some of the most common types of unclaimed assets in Rhode Island: account receivable credits and payables, insurance payments, safe deposit boxes, credit memos, gift certificates, stocks and dividends, bank accounts, refunds, wages. There are quite a few other types, but those listed are the most common, and each is found to be abandoned or "unclaimed" after a certain number of years of inactivity. Once this dormancy period has gone by, the holders are required to pass them along to the state for safe keeping until the rightful owner makes a claim on them. The state will never actually take possession of them, which means there is not a time limit to claim missing money.

Even after learning the process by which assets become unclaimed, it's still difficult to wrap our minds around the fact that there really are hundreds of millions waiting to be found by Rhode Island residents, and tens of billions nationwide. It's tough to believe that people have somehow just forgotten about these properties, but the fact is they have. In fact it has been estimated that nationally 7 in 10 people are owed money. The trouble is understanding how to find and claim our money.

More often than not, people get in their own way of finding their unclaimed property by doing things like searching the wrong websites and searching just one time. Not all unclaimed property websites are equal. Many don't have any actual missing money records, and even the handful that do often contain mostly old data. Even official state records are often not accurate because they are not updated in real time. Given that monies are handed over constantly, and each type has a unique dormancy period, a listing for a given person's name may not be added to the database until the day, week or month after they searched, leaving them with the incorrect impression that they are not owed money.

Although in recent years Rhode Island has stepped up efforts to hand back forgotten funds to the rightful owners, more money keeps coming in than is given back to the owners, so the total will keep on growing, giving all citizens a better chance of finding a claim. The state simply doesn't have the capability to efficiently find everyone who is owed money so the best thing people from Rhode Island can do is to study how to search like professional finders do, and then use those strategies to maximize their searching abilities.

-

IRS has unclaimed money - Liberty Vindicator

KCBS

IRS has unclaimed money Liberty Vindicator, TX - Nov 8, 2008 To view a list of Liberty County residents who have unclaimed money, visit www.thevindicator.com starting Sunday evening. Millions in Tax Refunds, Rebates Unclaimed WalletPop 105 stimulus checks for Racine County residents are unclaimed Journal Times Stimulus checks, refunds still unclaimed: IRS owes more than … TMCnet Cape May County Herald all 36 news articles

Unclaimed money may be yours - The Cherokeean Herald

Unclaimed money may be yours The Cherokeean Herald, TX - Nov 4, 2008 However, many more residents have unclaimed property that was not published. To find out if a person has money in the state treasury go to the state …

Father, son give dignified last journey to unclaimed bodies (Calcutta News)
It is a difficult, low paying job that most would shy away from, but Bangalore-based Mahadeva has made giving a decent burial to unclaimed bodies his life's work. And now the legacy has been passed on to his son, Praveen Kumar.

Lottery's unclaimed £220,000 win (BBC News)
A hunt is on for a Berkshire lottery winner who has until April 2009 to claim £220,629 prize money.

(Part 1 of 2)

As the littlest state in the nation, Rhode Island is justifiably nicknamed "Little Rhody", but there is nothing little about the amount of Rhode Island unclaimed money currently being held by the Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer. According to the office's web site, the state is now holding in excess of 124 million dollars of the citizens' money, and the only thing preventing people from taking back their cash is know-how and the ability to properly search.

It's understandable that people have difficulty accepting the reality of unclaimed property because no one expects to get free money. But "free" is not really the right term to describe these forgotten funds, because they actually already belong to the residents who can claim them (except in cases where they come from a deceased relative). So people who shrug off this phenomenon as some type of scam are doing themselves a disservice by not recognizing exactly where these properties come from.

(to be continued)

-

Do you have unclaimed money lying around? - NEWS.com.au

NEWS.com.au

Do you have unclaimed money lying around? NEWS.com.au, Australia - Nov 4, 2008 "Unfortunately, most Australians haven't checked to find out if they too have unclaimed money.'' When contacted by a member of the public, ASIC consultants …

IRS seeks to disburse unclaimed money (Great Falls Tribune)
BILLINGS (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service says unclaimed tax refunds and stimulus checks belonging to Montanans top $600,000. The agency wants to find the people who are due the money.

IRS has unclaimed money - Liberty Vindicator

KCBS

IRS has unclaimed money Liberty Vindicator, TX - Nov 8, 2008 To view a list of Liberty County residents who have unclaimed money, visit www.thevindicator.com starting Sunday evening. Millions in Tax Refunds, Rebates Unclaimed WalletPop 105 stimulus checks for Racine County residents are unclaimed Journal Times Stimulus checks, refunds still unclaimed: IRS owes more than … TMCnet Cape May County Herald all 36 news articles