finding lost money that you never knew you lost!
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On Wednesday, there were two envelopes in the mail from law offices in Sacramento. Normally we only get mail from class-action lawsuit firms that want us to sue our home builder, so these envelopes were a little out of place and I’ll admit I was a bit scared of their contents. Inside both of the envelopes were letters claiming I had $2100 waiting for me from a CA medical insurance company – and that for a small finder’s fee of 10%, they’d help me get this money back.
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Well, if two law firms can send me a letter on the same day, it means that this information just popped up in some magical database somewhere… and I figured I could find the source of the money just as easily as they could. And guess what? It was easier than I thought!
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I googled “lost money” to find unclaimed.org — the US site that helps you see if someone has “lost” you and wants to give you back your money. From this site, you just click on your home state, and it takes you to the database where you can look up your name. It turns out that I had money waiting from two sources – both at old addresses in Los Angeles under my maiden name. And all I needed to do was fill out a form, print it out with my supporting documents (driver’s license and marriage license copies), and I should be getting my money sometime in the next few months! Take that finder’s fee law firms!
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I told my co-worker about my awesome luck, so she hopped on the site and found out that Kaplan owed her $350 from a college tutoring job about 9 years ago! She also looked up her parents and found her mom (who’s lived at the same address for 30+ years) in CT had about $600 waiting for her as well. Let’s just say it was quite a happy day in the office!
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I tweeted about the site yesterday, and Amber found $60 as well! So I figured I’d write a blog and hope that your search comes up profitable as well! Happy Friday everyone!
13 Comments
Stephanie Michele
OMG – I just did this and found $90. Thanks for sharing!
Geek in Heels
Thanks for writing about this! I didn’t find any money for myself or my husband, but I did find some for my dad (and since he’s computer illiterate, I filled out the forms for him).
Kate
I didn’t find any money of mine or my husband’s, but found a record for my Father-in-Law that I forwarded on to him! Cool post!
Lauren
Thanks for posting this! I just found out that I have some unclaimed money! Yeah!
Heidi
You really are one of the most resourceful people I know!
LatteLove
my husband had $1.95! hah.
Disgruntled Julie
I’m a bit wary about having to leave my SSN on missingmoney.com which is the site I was directed to… no one else had problems with this?
EP
Kinda neat…But I just wish I could get the 5K owed to us from winning a small claims case.
HamiHarri
Very cool.
I noticed it covers British Columbia…but alas, no unclaimed money for me :(
TikiBird
Awesome! I had totally forgotten about this site. I remember your grandma was able to find a good chunk of money a couple of years ago from this!
(BTW, when I search her name now, there is some info there, but I’m not sure if it’s her…maybe worth looking into, though!)
Lyzz
Found $30. Yee! Pretty cool.
Coasting anon
Ok…call me stupid…but how exactly does one end up with unclaimed money? I ask because I have checked every single person in my family against every single state they have ever lived in with every name they have ever had and found nothing.
Catherine
I did thsi last month and just got a check for $425 last week!