States escheat provisions (the turning over of unclaimed property to the state) for unused gift card balances has become big income for states general funds.\u00a0 But beyond gift cards, companies in general are required to turn over unclaimed property to the states which then administer an unclaimed property database where consumers can look to see if there is anything that belongs to them.<\/p>\n
With gift cards, this is a mostly futile exercise as most gift cards are not traceable to any particular name.<\/p>\n
But with many other forms of unclaimed property, this is not the case.\u00a0 Unclaimed property can take the form of a bank account which has laid dormant for many years, a credit balance on a utility account when you move, or pay from a former employer.\u00a0 In all cases, the property is considered unclaimed because the company or organization with the funds does not have accurate contact information for the owner of the those funds.<\/p>\n
When I first learned about unclaimed property databases, I searched for myself, everyone in my family, extended family, friends, etc., in all the states we currently live in or used to live in.\u00a0 For my wife, I found $1,500 from a previous employer.\u00a0 For my dad, I found $80 from an old utility account.\u00a0 For my brother-in-laws sister, I found $1,000.\u00a0 The point is, there is real money for real people in unclaimed property databases and the only thing keeping people from getting it back is educating people to look for it.<\/p>\n
I highly recommend that everyone search for unclaimed property in their name.<\/p>\n