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The title of this post might be considered classic clickbait, but I did get your attention. Read on to see if you have lost money that needs to be found.

Recently, I received a letter from the Tennessee Treasury Department, which generally is not a good thing. Fortunately, this letter had good news. It was from the Division of Unclaimed Property telling me that I might have unclaimed property worth $55. I was directed to the Tennessee website that provided access to the database of unclaimed property. I went through the process of verifying my identity and filing a claim. I received a check in the mail for the full amount.

Money that was mine that I had no idea was due me.

Finding Unclaimed Property

When you have property that remains unclaimed, the business or organization is required to turn over that property to the state. It could be a bank account you forgot about or a rental deposit that was never returned. The state then makes an attempt to find you and give you your money back.

I have lived in three different states (Maryland, Texas, and Tennessee) over the last 30 years and decided to check other states to see if there might be some hidden pocket change that I left behind.

It quickly became apparent that finding each state website to search for any unclaimed property was a hassle. Fortunately, the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) maintains a website that allows you to search for unclaimed property in multiple states. The link on the website will direct you to their MissingMoney website. It is the NAUPA sponsored search engine that allows you to search multiple states. The site also works for a few Canadian provinces.

It is recommended that you search in every state where you have lived to see if you have unclaimed property.

Is this website legit?

As best as I could tell, after a bit of research, this site is legitimate. To find lost property, you will need to provide identification information (like Social Security number). You may feel more comfortable going to the state-specific site.

There are ads on the site for other products and services, so be sure to look before you click. In this picture from my search, I have highlighted the ads in the red box.

So, the check cleared, and I now am the happy recipient of money I had no idea was owed to me! With that, I’d like to make sure that you also get “free” money and claim what is rightfully yours! Visit Unclaimed.org (NAUPA) and feel good about sending them your extremely private information for cash.

This might be something worth telling your clients about.