Claim Missing Money With Found Money®

In most states, unclaimed property can be claimed by the rightful owners or their heirs, indefinitely. However, some states have enacted legislation where they are able to keep the unclaimed money and not return it to the owner after a certain period on time. Idaho is one such state.
In 2007, Idaho made a change to their unclaimed property law that allows them to take permanent ownership of the unclaimed property if it has remained unclaimed for 10 years or more.
“More and more states may start to do this in order to help pay down their deficits. This amounts to millions and millions of dollars that are lost forever and can never be re-claimed”, says Palonek, founder of Foundmoney.com, a company specializing in helping people find unclaimed money since 1994.
Edward Palonek would like to help return as much of that unclaimed money to the rightful owners before the Idaho government takes permanent possession of it.
According to Idaho State records, they collected over $9.7 million in unclaimed property in 2009, while almost $12.8 was collected in 2008. Of that over $7.9 million was distributed in 2009 and over $7.2 million in 2008. In total, Idaho currently has over $51 million dollars waiting to be collected by its citizens.
Finding some of these unclaimed assets couldn’t be simpler according to Edward Palonek, “all that is needed is a computer or access to one and go to foundmoney.com to see if you or a relative or a friend has any of this unclaimed cash”.
To avoid having you money and other valuable assets become unclaimed:
- Make sure to keep your records active through customer-initiated contact with the holder of the account, such as at banks, at least once every two years.
- Keep accurate and current records of all accounts, insurance policies, GIC’s safe deposit boxes, stocks and bonds.
- Tell family members of the location of your accounts and make sure to alert businesses that hold your assets whenever you move.

According to the research and advisory firm TowerGroup, gift cards will fall slightly in 2009 to about $87 billion. Out of this $87 billion approximately 10% will become unused either because they have been lost or because they have expired.
In 2009 according to the National Retail Federation (“NRF”), gift cards remained the most requested holiday item for 2009 with most cards averaging $140.
New regulations under the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act will now limit Fees on Gift and Stored Value Cards. The Act enhances disclosure on fees for gift and stored value cards and restricts inactivity fees unless the card has been inactive for at least 12 months. The new Act will also require that cards be given at least five years of transaction capability before expiration. What the act does not do however, is ensuring that gift cards do not lose value when a retailer files for bankruptcy and it does not allow for the possibility that a card holder may dispute a transaction such as the case with credit or debit cards.
During these tough economic times, states are looking for all forms of new revenue and many of them are turning towards collecting abandoned and unused gift cards. Although attempts are made to try to locate some of these accounts, in most cases there is limited information about the purchaser of the gift cards since the name and address of the purchaser is not required. As a result the states and the retailer get these wind falls at the expense of the consumer. In New York State for example, the WSJ reports that they collected $9.6 million in unused gift cards in 2008.
“These are huge numbers but there is some relief for a few lucky people” says Palonek, founder of Foundmoney.com, who helps reunite people with their lost or forgotten money and was the first company on the Internet to do so. Foundmoney.com is a company that was started in 1994 and specializes in unclaimed money and has reunited thousands of people with their lost and forgotten money.
Many folks could use some extra cash right now to start to pay down some credit card bills from the holidays. A quick and easy way is to simply do an online web search at www.foundmoney.com. There you can check to see if you, a loved one, friend or neighbor has some unclaimed money just sitting there waiting for its rightful owner to make a claim for this cash.
To make sure that your gift cards do not make it to the State or from being reported as income on some company’s balance sheet, if they become unused, make every attempt to use the card before the expiry date.

The Christmas season has ended and now the New Year has begun. If you are retired or about to retire this is the time to make sure that you are receiving or about to receive all your pension money. You would be surprised to learn that there are over $100 million in Lost Pension Benefits. These are pensions from terminated defined benefit pension plans.

“Although the vast majority of workers receive their full pension, sometimes people lost track of benefits earned with former employers,” said Vince Snowbarger, Interim Director of the PBGC. “The Pension Search directory helps workers find retirement money they are entitled to but cannot locate.”
The unclaimed benefits for over 30,000 pensioners range from as little as a few dollars to over $600,000, while the average is around $5,000.

“That’s a lot of money for someone not claiming especially in these tough economic times” says, Edward Palonek, founder of Foundmoney.com, a company specializing in helping people find unclaimed money, since 1994. What’s further amazing according to Palonek, is that “Pensioners are completely unaware that there may be some unclaimed pension money out there in their name waiting to be claimed”

The States that have the highest number of missing pensioners and Lost Money are New York at approx. 7,000 pensioners and $38 million unclaimed pension money, California at approx. 3,000 pensioners and $7 million, New Jersey at approx. 2,000 pensioners and $12 million, Texas at approx. 2,000 pensioners and $7 million, Pennsylvania at approx. 2,000 pensioners and $10 million, Illinois at approx. 1,500 pensioners and $9 million and finally Florida at approx. 1,500 pensioners and $7 million.
Finding these unclaimed pensioner money is as simple as clicking your computer mouse and conducting a search for your name or that of someone you know, says Palonek. The online service is free and available 24 hours a day.

The unclaimed pension money is from approx. 6,600 companies, primarily in the airline, steel, transportation, machinery, retail trade, apparel and financial services industries that closed pension plans in which some former workers could not be found.
According to Palonek, many of the pensioners are workers with pensions whose former employers closed pension plans and distributed benefits. Others are workers or retirees missing from under-funded pension plans because the plans did not have enough money to pay benefits.
To avoid becoming a missing pensioner of unclaimed pension money, workers should tell their employers when they move or change names, and they should hold on to any pension information they receive from their employers.

Make sure not to write off the lost pension money as lost forever, you never know this may be the year that you find yourself richer that you think. What a great way to start of the New Year in 2010.