(Part 1 of 2)

As the smallest state in the country, Rhode Island is justifiably nicknamed "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 web site, the state is now holding in excess of 124 million dollars of the peoples' money, and the only thing preventing people from taking back their money is know-how and the ability to search correctly.

It's easy to understand why people have difficulty accepting the reality of unclaimed money because no one expects they will 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 relative who passed away). So people who shrug off this potential windfall as some sort of myth are doing themselves a great disservice by not recognizing exactly where this money comes from.

According to the Office of the General Treasurer's web site, what follows are some of the most common forms of unclaimed assets 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 listed are the most common, and each is deemed abandoned or "unclaimed" after a particular number of years of seeing no activity. Once this dormancy period has gone by, the holders have to to hand them over to the state for safe keeping until the rightful owner claims them. The state never actually takes possession of them, so there is not a time limit to claim lost assets.

Even after learning the way in which funds become unclaimed, it's still tough 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 across the country. It's tough to accept that people have somehow just forgotten about these properties, but the truth is they have. In fact experts estimate that in the United States 7 in 10 people are due a claim. The trouble is knowing how to track down and claim our cash.

(to be continued)

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