State unclaimed money programs are so inefficient that Angelina Jolie has unclaimed money listed in the CA State Treasury database. She does travel the globe quite a bit but really, how hard is it to locate her?
The governments unclaimed money administrative process is so poor the California Treasury Department actually has in its unclaimed money database
- 50+ unclaimed money accounts for the California State Department
- 200+ unclaimed money account for the State of California
- Over 30 accounts for various California State Boards
Yes this means California is holding its own
unclaimed money and can’t even find itself to return the funds. Bravo!
Institutions holding unclaimed money for about 3 years are required to turn the money over to the state or federal agency. The State is then responsible for advertising the unclaimed money and making attempts to contact the unclaimed money account owner.
The efficacy of State notification has been called into question lately. On June 1, 2007 in California a federal judge ordered the state of California to halt the seizure of unclaimed property including cash, stocks, safe deposit box contents and other property due to inadequate notification to unclaimed money account owners.
CA may be the first of many states to be exposed for their inadequate notification to unclaimed money owners.
The states acquire BILLIONS in unclaimed money annually and do very little to reach the rightful owners, and instead of returning the money to the account owners it is spent through the states general funds.
Due to the lack of action by the State
Unclaimed Property Divisions, such as in California, there are websites, like www.usunclaimed.com that have identified and addressed a need for a massive outreach to people nationwide due to the extremely limited, archaic advertising efforts of state and federal agencies controlling unclaimed cash.
The state of CA, like other states, has great interest in the unclaimed property program since it has generated over $5 Billion in revenue for the state of the years.
U.S. District Judge William Shubb in Sacramento expressed no sympathy for the CA state's loss of revenue as he shut down the program tasking the controller with creating an improved notification system that meets the court's approval.
State unclaimed money searches have other problems as well. Although the states each offer a website, state specific website searches will only search for money turned over to that state and will not search the other 49 states or any federal databases.
Private sites are now assisting citizens in searching for and claiming their unclaimed money. For example,
www.usunclaimed.com has created databases that allow you to search records from all 50 states at once. This type of search reduces the risk of missing money that may have been reported in a state other than your state of residence.
Many sites also provide information on how to claim your money. They provide forms and instructions on submitting claims for
unclaimed money accounts.
With the total of unclaimed cash growing BILLIONS annually, sites like
www.usunclaimed.com are working hard to assist Americans in claiming the money that is rightfully theirs.
USunclaimed.com has compiled one of the largest databases for unclaimed money in the world, containing over 200 million records of people who are owed unclaimed money on their website
www.usunclaimed.com. Their advertising and outreach efforts have reunited countless people with their unclaimed money and property. The site offers more information on unclaimed money and free unclaimed money search at Usunclaimed.com
