(Part 1 of 2)

As the smallest state in the country, Rhode Island is justifiably known as "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 is now holding in excess of $124 million of the citizens' money, and the only thing stopping people from taking back their cash is knowledge and the ability to search correctly.

It is understandable that people have trouble accepting the reality of unclaimed money because no one expects they can get free money. But "free" is not exactly the correct 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 relative who passed away). So people who shrug off this phenomenon as some kind of scam are doing themselves a great disservice by not recognizing exactly where these monies come from.

According to the Office of the General Treasurer's website, what follows are some of the most common forms of unclaimed properties in Rhode Island: stocks and dividends, bank accounts, refunds, wages, account receivable credits and payables, insurance payments, safe deposit boxes, credit memos, gift certificates. There are quite a few other types, but those are the most common, and each kind is found to be abandoned or "unclaimed" after a certain number of years of seeing no activity. Once this dormancy period has passed, the holders are required to hand them over to the state for holding 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.

(to be continued)

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Passengers leave behind over $400,000 in loose change at U.S. security checkpoints annually

Spare change left at airport checkpoints
Unclaimed money, typically consisting of loose coins passengers take out of their pockets, is turned into the TSA financial office.

Treasure Hunt:aEUR(C)More than 500 Jasper County residents have
By state law, Iowa companies and financial entities are required to report

Treasure Hunt:
More than 500 Jasper County residents have
By state law, Iowa companies and financial entities are required to report

Hometownstations.com-WLIO- Lima, OH News Weather SportsOhio getting more unclaimed money to owners
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Officials say a state agency celebrating its 30th anniversary has reunited Ohioans with about $830 million they didn't realize was out there.