Money-saving Tips
Introduction
This is one in a series of money-saving tips. For more information, please visit my home page.
Money for nothing...
Every state has an office that is tasked with being the custodian of unclaimed property. It
could be money that was left in a forgotten account, a refund that couldn't be delivered
because someone moved and the forwarding address was no longer good, etc. This money is just
sitting there waiting to be claimed by the owner or their heirs.
I searched the state of Illinois database and found two listings for my deceased mother. One showed an address that I lived at as a kid. My mother last lived there 35 years ago. The other address was from 70 years ago! I called the state and they said it probably had to do with insurance policies. I had collected on two policies in 2005 after she died and wondered if she had others that I was unaware of. But that wasn't the case.
I did a little research and learned about the "demutualization" of insurance companies that occurred several years ago. Big companies like Prudential and Met Life switched from being mutual insurance companies (policyholders actually owned the company) to ones that are owned by shareholders.
When this occurred, current policyholders were given shares in the new company. If the policyholder could not be located because the address they had was no longer good, the insurance company paid an equivalent amount of money to the policyholder's state office of unclaimed funds. This money is above and beyond the value of the policies.
Here are links to all of the state's and the District of Columbia's unclaimed property web sites. Check out your state's web site. Odds are that you, or someone you know, has money waiting to be claimed. Happy hunting!
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