Millions of dollars in unclaimed money is sitting in the hands of the Treasury Department, waiting to be claimed by the rightful owner. You may have missing money from overpayments, refunds, stocks, dividends, wages, gift certificates, credit balances, and a number of other intangible assets that may have become forgotten or abandoned.
Businesses and organizations across the state of Tennessee turn over millions of dollars every year to the Treasury Department in hopes that it will be claimed by the rightful owner as a function of the consumer protection law. The state acts as a caretaker for unclaimed money, safeguarding it until it is claimed by the rightful owner or an heir.
In Williamson County alone there are 30,000 cases of unclaimed property amounting to a total of $4.4 million waiting to be claimed. There is no fee to file a claim with the state Treasury Department’s Unclaimed Property division, and property will not expire after any amount of time. Rightful heirs are also able to file claims if the owner is deceased.
To find out if you have unclaimed property in Tennessee visit claimittn.gov, or to search nationwide go to missingmoney.com.
“On average, the average claim we pay to people is going to be about $150,” said John Gabriel, Director of the state’s Unclaimed Property division. “It’s not going to allow them to quit their job or go retire somewhere, but it varies.”
Divisions of Unclaimed Property have been around since the late 1970s, but searching has become much easier with the online system. Once you search for your name a page of listings will appear in alphabetical order. You can narrow the search by city, and Shelli King, Communications Director for the Tennessee Treasury Department, recommends trying variations or possible misspellings of the name because those errors are common causes for unclaimed property.
Before a business turns over unclaimed money to the state they are required to attempt to contact the owner for a period of time. Sometimes unclaimed money can lay dormant for up to five years before the company turns it over, but businesses are required to report unclaimed funds to the state annually.
After a claim is filed with appropriate proof of identity from the claimant the Treasury Department will compare the information with the information given by the party that turned over the money, and once identity is verified a check will be sent to the owner. It may take around two weeks to receive a check for unclaimed money.
The state will also pay interest on property if the original company reported an interest rate on the property at the time it was turned over.
The listings are updated regularly, so check back every once in a while to see if you the state is holding on to your unclaimed money.
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