Unclaimed Money in Missouri Totals Over 400 Million
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According to State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, Missouri unclaimed money has grown to the massive sum of $400 million. This pile of cash is likely to grow, as with most states, Missouri takes in more unclaimed property annual than they return to the citizens. Among the variety of reasons why these funds remain unclaimed, is the fact that most people are unaware of unclaimed property, and those that are don’t know the proper way to search.
With MO unclaimed money rolls approaching a half of a billion dollars, the “Show Me State” ought to change its name to the “Show Me The Money State”. So where does all that money come from? There are many dozens of different types of sources for unclaimed property, but some of the most common are abandoned bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, checks that have not been cashed, certificates of deposit, forgotten stocks, life insurance policies.
While there is no time limit on claiming missing money, Missouri only guarantees that they’ll hold items from safe deposit boxes for 1 year (though they do sometimes hold them for longer). According to the MO State Treasurer’s website, this is how they handle these items: Although State Treasurer Steelman would like to keep the contents of safe deposit boxes until an owner or heir is identified, the unclaimed property vault used to store non-monetary items of value (jewelry, coins, etc.) reaches capacity every couple of years. When the vault is full, the Unclaimed Property Division hosts an auction, and the proceeds generated from the sale of items from safe deposit boxes is recorded in the name of the safe deposit box owner. If owners or heirs are identified, they receive the entire proceeds from the sale of the items.
Obviously for those people who use (or have used) safe deposit boxes, it’s important to quickly get your search started if the items have a sentimental value to you, but at least you’ll get the money if they sell your items. Luckily for the rest of us, most of the money doesn’t come from unclaimed property auctions.
Whether you’re a current or former Missouri resident, or in some cases, have never lived in Missouri at all, the odds that lost money is owed to you, are in your favor. And the best part about money from unclaimed funds is that the money already belongs to people. There are no games or gambling involved. The only thing keeping missing money from becoming found money, for most people, is their knowledge about where to search, and how to search.
Countless myths exist about unclaimed property. The most common is that performing a simple online search on any old website constitutes a full search. Sadly most of these “official” searches, are anything but, and their data is often very outdate if not completely false, and only there as a sales hook. The other myth is that the state records are up to date and accurate.
There is no uniform rule that dictates when the states, including Missouri, must update their unclaimed money records. For this reason, one of the best things you can do is search regularly. If your money has only been classified “unclaimed” recently, it likely won’t show up in Missouri’s system until it’s first been turned over by the account holder, and then whenever the state treasurer’s office adds the record.
To learn more about these unclaimed property search obstacles, and many more, and it is important to seek expert assistance in your search for lost assets, to ensure that you reclaim all possible money owed to you.
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