**Unclaimed Property: A Guide to Finding and Claiming Your Due Money**

When it comes to managing your finances, there's always more than meets the eye. One often-overlooked aspect of personal finance is unclaimed property, which refers to money or assets that a company owes you but cannot reach you for some reason. Instead, they turn over the owed amount to the government or state, leaving you with an opportunity to claim it.

In the United States, searching for unclaimed property is surprisingly easy and can be done online. The most straightforward approach is to visit your state's website and search for "unclaimed property" along with the name of your state. This will typically lead you to a dedicated page where you can input your last name, first name, city, or other identifying information to narrow down the search results. Some states also allow you to use nicknames or the names of friends and family members who may be owed money.

One of the most useful tools for searching unclaimed property is California's website, which has a comprehensive database with detailed information on property that can be claimed. The results are categorized into three types: P, N, and I. P stands for "property ready to be collected," indicating that the amount is already available for you to claim. N signifies "property that a business still has but is about to send to the state." And I represents "property that the business is in the process of sending now."

When searching for unclaimed property, it's essential to understand that not all states will have access to the same level of information or features. However, California's website provides an excellent starting point for exploring this topic. A search using a generic name like "John Smith" can yield surprising results, including smaller amounts such as salaries and wages or insurance premiums. Some results may be even larger, like the $1,600 insurance claim checks mentioned in one of the examples.

What's notable is that unclaimed property extends beyond financial transactions. In some cases, it might include items like shares of stock, which can be a substantial amount. For instance, an example from California lists "9 unclaimed shares of Bank of America stock" with a value of over $2,500. This highlights the importance of exploring all avenues, including property that may not be purely monetary in nature.

While each state has its unique approach to managing unclaimed property, the process typically involves some form of online search followed by manual review and verification. The specifics can vary depending on the state's regulations and available resources. Nonetheless, taking the initiative to research and claim your owed money or assets can significantly impact your financial situation and overall well-being.

**Additional Resources**

For those interested in exploring unclaimed property further, it's highly recommended to visit the website of their individual state, as mentioned earlier. Some states also offer additional tools or resources to aid in the search process. Additionally, websites like Unclaimed.org or MissingMoney.gov can provide valuable information and guidance on navigating the world of unclaimed property.

**Channel Promotion**

If you're not particularly interested in finance or investing but appreciate learning about new topics, consider exploring my other channel, "Actual School," which offers a wide range of educational content. I'll be posting updates about this channel in the description below, so be sure to check it out and subscribe if you find it interesting.

**Disclaimer**

Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Unclaimed property laws can vary significantly between states and countries, so it's essential to verify information with your local authorities before taking any action.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat if i told you that it's possible that you're owed money that you don't even know about and it's been just sitting in a government bank account waiting for you to claim it and for some of you it actually is true it might not necessarily be a lot but it could be and it's actually really easy to find out so that's what today's topic is the topic of so-called unclaimed property and how you can find out if you have any before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to find out if you have any money owed to you i do want to obviously point out that this video is a little bit different from my usual type of tech videos it's more of a general life tip and that's because i want to take a minute to promote a brand new channel that i just launched i'm just announcing it right now it's called actual school what they should have taught you and it's pretty much exactly what it says i have a few videos up there right now you can check out and i would consider this video to be a bit of a preview of that channel now that doesn't mean it's going to be about how to get free stuff or anything like that don't be going there all thirsty but basically it's going to be life tips and skills in general and probably a lot of finance and investing tips because that's kind of what i'm interested in so i know a lot about and honestly it might not seem like the most exciting type of content but i genuinely think that it is important topics that i'll be talking about it'll definitely be different from the usual tech stuff you might be familiar with on this channel so if you're only interested in tech definitely don't feel the need to go over there and subscribe just to make me feel better don't subscribe unless you're actually interested in the stuff i just mentioned life tips skills investing in finance that sort of thing but if you are interested i highly recommend you go check it out i'll put the link and have it pop up and i'll also put it in the description i'd love to see you over there and check out the videos i have on there right now i'm going to probably try and upload about once a week or so on there so let me know what you think about that and let's get back to the rest of this video all right so first of all what exactly is unclaimed property basically it's when a company owes you money or property for some reason and they can't get a hold of you to turn it over to you so they end up giving it to the government the state to hang on to it instead in some cases this might be a refund or an old bank account bounce that was closed or even an old paycheck you never collected stuff like that and in the united states at least it's actually really easy to search to see if you have any of this unclaimed property these instructions are going to be focused on what to do if you live in the united states and i'm not 100 sure about every other jurisdiction every other country and their unclaimed property laws but there's probably something similar in your country you just have to look it up yourself now there's not really any one single database to find it you usually have to search within your individual states records so the easiest way to do this is to go on google and type in the name of your state and then unclaimed property search or something like that and again if you live in another country you can just search the name of your country and then unclaimed property and see what comes up anyway no matter what state you go on they're all going to have their own website they're going to all probably look a little bit different but each one will usually allow you to search with at least just your last name but if you want to narrow it down you can usually search also with your first name and city and location i'd also recommend trying out putting in a nickname because it's possible the company that owes you the money put in a different name that's not exactly your official name and also definitely try putting in some friends and families info and see if they're owed money you're not going to be able to claim it for them obviously but you can at least let them know and they'll probably be pretty happy if you just kind of let them know they have this money waiting for and i'll do a quick demo i'll use california as an example because i find their site has pretty good searching and info on it not every single state will have all this but in california at least it does show there are actually three different types of results p n or i next to each result p appears to be property that's ready to be collected n is property that a business still has but is about to send to the state and i is property that the business is in the process of sending now so i'll just do a search for john smith the most generic popular name possible and you can see through these results most of these are for less than 100 or so these are not huge amounts and it's usually for stuff like salaries and wages or insurance premiums closed checking accounts that sort of stuff and it'll also show you who the property is originally from who's owing that person the money but there are some cases where it's actually quite a large amount of money like for this one it's over sixteen hundred dollars it says it's for insurance claim checks there's another one for twenty five hundred dollars it just says for other and here's one that's actually really interesting it's not for money but actually nine unclaimed shares of bank of america stock so you can see it's not necessarily just money in here but all sorts of unclaimed property that can be turned over to the state so do a search for yourself and some friends and family and then each state is going to have its own process of going through and claiming it but you could probably figure that out and who knows you might get lucky again i'd like to remind you to check out my new second channel called actual school i'll put that link again in the description hope to see over there so thanks so much for watching guys and i'll see you in the next onewhat if i told you that it's possible that you're owed money that you don't even know about and it's been just sitting in a government bank account waiting for you to claim it and for some of you it actually is true it might not necessarily be a lot but it could be and it's actually really easy to find out so that's what today's topic is the topic of so-called unclaimed property and how you can find out if you have any before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to find out if you have any money owed to you i do want to obviously point out that this video is a little bit different from my usual type of tech videos it's more of a general life tip and that's because i want to take a minute to promote a brand new channel that i just launched i'm just announcing it right now it's called actual school what they should have taught you and it's pretty much exactly what it says i have a few videos up there right now you can check out and i would consider this video to be a bit of a preview of that channel now that doesn't mean it's going to be about how to get free stuff or anything like that don't be going there all thirsty but basically it's going to be life tips and skills in general and probably a lot of finance and investing tips because that's kind of what i'm interested in so i know a lot about and honestly it might not seem like the most exciting type of content but i genuinely think that it is important topics that i'll be talking about it'll definitely be different from the usual tech stuff you might be familiar with on this channel so if you're only interested in tech definitely don't feel the need to go over there and subscribe just to make me feel better don't subscribe unless you're actually interested in the stuff i just mentioned life tips skills investing in finance that sort of thing but if you are interested i highly recommend you go check it out i'll put the link and have it pop up and i'll also put it in the description i'd love to see you over there and check out the videos i have on there right now i'm going to probably try and upload about once a week or so on there so let me know what you think about that and let's get back to the rest of this video all right so first of all what exactly is unclaimed property basically it's when a company owes you money or property for some reason and they can't get a hold of you to turn it over to you so they end up giving it to the government the state to hang on to it instead in some cases this might be a refund or an old bank account bounce that was closed or even an old paycheck you never collected stuff like that and in the united states at least it's actually really easy to search to see if you have any of this unclaimed property these instructions are going to be focused on what to do if you live in the united states and i'm not 100 sure about every other jurisdiction every other country and their unclaimed property laws but there's probably something similar in your country you just have to look it up yourself now there's not really any one single database to find it you usually have to search within your individual states records so the easiest way to do this is to go on google and type in the name of your state and then unclaimed property search or something like that and again if you live in another country you can just search the name of your country and then unclaimed property and see what comes up anyway no matter what state you go on they're all going to have their own website they're going to all probably look a little bit different but each one will usually allow you to search with at least just your last name but if you want to narrow it down you can usually search also with your first name and city and location i'd also recommend trying out putting in a nickname because it's possible the company that owes you the money put in a different name that's not exactly your official name and also definitely try putting in some friends and families info and see if they're owed money you're not going to be able to claim it for them obviously but you can at least let them know and they'll probably be pretty happy if you just kind of let them know they have this money waiting for and i'll do a quick demo i'll use california as an example because i find their site has pretty good searching and info on it not every single state will have all this but in california at least it does show there are actually three different types of results p n or i next to each result p appears to be property that's ready to be collected n is property that a business still has but is about to send to the state and i is property that the business is in the process of sending now so i'll just do a search for john smith the most generic popular name possible and you can see through these results most of these are for less than 100 or so these are not huge amounts and it's usually for stuff like salaries and wages or insurance premiums closed checking accounts that sort of stuff and it'll also show you who the property is originally from who's owing that person the money but there are some cases where it's actually quite a large amount of money like for this one it's over sixteen hundred dollars it says it's for insurance claim checks there's another one for twenty five hundred dollars it just says for other and here's one that's actually really interesting it's not for money but actually nine unclaimed shares of bank of america stock so you can see it's not necessarily just money in here but all sorts of unclaimed property that can be turned over to the state so do a search for yourself and some friends and family and then each state is going to have its own process of going through and claiming it but you could probably figure that out and who knows you might get lucky again i'd like to remind you to check out my new second channel called actual school i'll put that link again in the description hope to see over there so thanks so much for watching guys and i'll see you in the next one\n"