Recently, some company sent me a letter saying that my state was holding funds procured from the sale of some “property” that was mine, equaling $401.09. I had no idea what this “property” could be. The entity which held this property was a bank with which I’ve had no dealings, as far as I know. The private company said they would process the paperwork to recover this “property” for about $25. I thought, no thanks, I’ll use that $25 to pay the electic bill, and did the paperwork myself, via the website of the state comptroller. The check is now on the way.
My question: what could this “property” possibly be? They give no telephone number or website for questions, and snail mail might take weeks. I have no recollection of debts that any bank could owe me.
BTW: The state Comptroller did actually send a letter–without any fee request-- after the offer of the private company to do the paperwork for me for $25, so that’s to their credit. It’s a good faith effort to let people know that such “properties” are being held by the state.
In my family’s case, it was some bonds that my grandfather had apparently forgotten about before he died. It ended up being about $1000, so 500 for my dad and 500 for my aunt. The paperwork wasn’t too horrible as I recall, though I’m sure it varies state by state. Tennessee required proof of death, proof of last address, and proof of relationship to the deceased. Then there was a form to fill out and get notarized and that was it.
Just as a note, here’s a website that lists all the websites for all 50 states.
-Lil
That is a great site. I got US$190 from some sort of overpayment to a hospital years ago. The lady who turned me on to it said she never met anyone who did not get some sum of money from them.
Easy too, I sent them a copy of some ID and the check came right away. Nice.
A lawsuit where every employee of a fast-food restaurant where I worked as a teen was supposed to be paid a couple hundred $$ in “compensation” for illegal practices (they forced employees to take polygraph tests on their own time, and threatened to fire them if they refused). Funny thing is, the lawsuit did not mandate that the company make any real effort to distribute this money, just that it would be there if an employee were to say call and ask “hey, do you have money for me”? :rolleyes: Regardless, I got some serious cash.
The gas utility here had a charge refund that was given out to ratepayers - once again, they didn’t have to make any real effort to actually pay, so the site told me I had about $50 waiting for me.
All said and done, I got about $250 for 5 minutes of paperwork.
Sweeeet! Just for fits and shiggles, I went through all the states I’ve lived in over the years, and it turns out an insurance company in Florida has $168.00 for me from an account I had some 13 years ago.
Hmm… I did a search for my name, no hits. I did a search for my father’s name, and there’s about two hundred bucks sitting around unclaimed. He died several years back, you see.
They want a copy of his death certificate, and his social security number. I don’t have either, or any way to get either of those.
Now, if it was several thousand I think I’d be willing to put forth some effort.
Lightnin’,
Let’s see. Any interested party can get a copy of the death certificate from the agency that issues them in the state where he died, so you can get that. As for his social security number, once you have a copy of his death certificate, you could go to your local Social Security office and ask for their help in obtaining his number. Or you could take a quick peek at his last tax return, filed after his death by the executor of his estate or his widow. This person would also have a copy of the death certificate.
Maybe an hour’s time for a phone call or two and a letter or two for a couple hundred bucks.
Of course, if you’re a Wall Street lawyer, I can see where spending an hour or so for a measly $200 would be a waste of time. :rolleyes:
Lightnin’ may not be entitled to the money. Presumably the money that belonged to his late father belongs to his estate or heirs, whoever that might be.
That’s possible and a valid reason, perhaps but he didn’t say anything about it. A grumbling about putting money in the hands of underserving siblings would rate sympathy rather than scorn. If that’s not the case, :rolleyes: still applies.
I got one of those letters and went to the state website to claim the money on my own. Just had to pay the notary for all the copies of stuff I had to send to prove I’m really me.
Got $1202.00 from some state pension fund that I belonged to for only a couple of years, long ago.
Hmm… I probably should’ve explained the background a bit further. I can see how I look a bit gold-diggerish.
My parents divorced when I was three or so. My father made a minor, token effort to stay in my life for a while, but that didn’t last long. The last time I can remember spending any time with him was when I was 11. He never, as far as I can tell, paid child support. I’ve got two older half-brothers out there that I know about- and I can’t even remember what their names are.
My mom died when I was 18. I’ve been on my own since then.
Ten years later, I was at work, bored. Decided to see if I could find my father over the Internet. Found him, called him up. Made an appointment to meet up with him, drove six hours to do so. He never showed or called.
Two years later, his mother died. I was the only grandchild who attended the funeral- even though I hadn’t seen her since I was eleven; I went to meet my father.
Turned out, I didn’t like him much. Part of it may have been that I was the only one who put forth any effort to try to build a relationship between us. I never saw him again.
Two years after that, he died. His roommate, a woman slightly younger than my age who’d been taking care of him, called to let me know. I was the only heir they could track down. He died without anything to his name except for a beat up old truck, and that was why she’d called me- she wanted the truck. I said, “Take it, I don’t care.” I didn’t attend his funeral.
For a while there, his many creditors called me to try to collect from ME. I just kept saying “no” until they got the message.
Does that explain the situation a bit further? I might get off my butt to try to collect that money- I’m sure the two companies that have the money don’t really deserve it either- but I’m more than a little apathetic about anything to deal with my father.
