There's $33 billion dollars nationwide waiting for the rightful owners to claim. This includes individuals, charities, businesses--both large and small, plus nearly every government agency from local to national. Have you heard of it? Most people haven't. And that's why there's so much unclaimed money.

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            With $33 billion dollars nationwide in unclaimed property, chances are some of it might belong to you.

            Unclaimed property consists of forgotten utility deposits, insurance refunds, final paychecks, stocks, savings accounts and more. The money is held in the state of the owner's last known address. However, you may have money in a state in which you never lived. If owner's address is unknown, the money is held in the state in which the holder (the company that has the money that gets turned over to the state) is incorporated.

            Here's how to start your search:

            Go to www.missingmoney.com and enter your name. You can search most states this way. To search state-by-state, click on the map of the US on the home page. Even if your state participates on the missing money site, you get the maximum number of listings by searching the individual state records. This is because the very new and the very old listings are not on the national site.

            For additional places to search, there is a bar at the top of the missingmoney home page. Click on "Links" then "Related Links." You'll find connections to:

-         Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Click the link for information about possible FHA refunds.

-         IRS for unclaimed tax refunds. If you don't claim it in three years, you lose it.

-         Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)-- Find unclaimed funds for insured deposits or dividend checks that issued and were undeliverable or never cashed.

-         US Savings Bonds--There are 40 million savings bonds that have stopped earning interest. The estimated value is $16.5 billion dollars. That's like having money stuffed in your mattress. It's time to cash them in and reinvest the money.

-         Veteran's Administration--The site has loads of information about benefits and services. After all, they aren't benefits if you don't take advantage of them.

-         Financial Management Service--Each individual federal agency maintains its own records. If you think a government agency may have money for you, check out this site.

-         Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation--Refunds on traditional retirement accounts

-           International unclaimed property sites including Canada, Australia and Switzerland.

            If you check this time and there is no listing for you, remember to check back at least once a year. National Find Your Missing Money Day is the day after your taxes are due.

            There is no charge to search using the missingmoney.com site or unclaimed.org. There are a lot of sound-alike sites. You should never ever pay for an online search. Some sites will let you search for free, but then try to charge you to file a claim. Don't do it!

            There is no charge to claim your money except for Texas that charges a 1.5 percent handling fee for claims above $100. States keep the interest that the money earns.

            States hold the money indefinitely until the rightful owner or heir claims it, except for Indiana that only holds it for 25 years. After that, the state takes possession of it and you lose the right to it.

            Some states are even dipping into the unclaimed property money to fund projects. There was an article in the Las Vegas Sun on April 14, 2011 about Nevada taking $10 million dollars from the unclaimed property fund to attract new businesses to the state.

            In addition, some states are decreasing their dormancy period and increasing their audits and enforcement of unclaimed property laws. Businesses that are holding the money are turning it over to the state before proper due diligence of attempting to locate the owner of the account is completed. There was recently a report of a 7-year-old child who had her $75 savings account turned over to the state because the account had no activity on it for 4 years. All the bank had to do was send a letter to the address on file as she had not moved. She simply had money in the account and was letting it grow.

            Don't let your money earn interest for the state another day. Claim what's yours today!

Authors Website: http://www.TheLittleBookOfMissingMoney.com

Authors Bio:
Mary Pitman is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a registered nurse for the past 30 years.
She became involved in finding missing money when she was going to show her friend what a scam it was. She was stunned to find two listings for her father who died in 2001. She skeptically filed the claim and about five weeks later received a check for more than $2,500.
That changed her opinion.
When she found money for Linda, another nurse, Linda replied, "I've been getting calls and letters from attorneys and firms saying I have all this money out there but they all want a lot of money to help me get it. I was determined to find it on my own, but I didn't know where to begin."
Mary was appalled to hear that one person wanted $700, and another wanted $2,100 to help the nurse.
"I don't feel anyone should have to pay a ransom to get their own money," Mary said.
She had spent several years playing on the various unclaimed property sites finding many problems with how the names were entered into the state database. She decided to compile her best search tips into a book to help people like Linda.
In the process of doing additional research, she kept coming across sites that had money but did not post that information on the state unclaimed property sites. When she came across unclaimed child support listings, she knew she had to reformat the book to accommodate these additional sites.
The end result is The Little Book of Missing Money, an ebook that will be available as a paperback the end of April.
"If people don't look for the listing the way it's entered, they'll never find it," Mary explained.
Her passion in life is to make sure everyone gets ALL the money that is rightfully theirs.