As a child I often found money. That was an era when children predominantly played outdoors with other children instead of slouching over electronic devices. Spring in Wisconsin revealed lost items as snow melted–mittens, cars, papers, litter, and coins. Lots of coins. Money doesn’t come as easily these days. As an adult this spring, I generally earn money through writing and editing, but last week money found me.
It wasn’t from Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, or another lovely royalty check from Amazon, or the Florida Lottery, or even that Nigerian Prince who keeps emailing to ask for my bank account number. It was a letter from an attorney that explained an unclaimed insurance refund of $1500 was owed to us and for a fee of $150, the attorney would process the claim and send us a check. Yeah, sure. I’ll tell the Nigerian Prince . . . but after calling the insurance company named in the letter, it turned out to be true. The insurance company refund was over six years old–involving a corporation my husband owned and closed–so the undelivered refund had been idling all these years with the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
The money would have gathered more dust there, but for the enterprising law firm that hunted us down. The lawyer earned a nice fee for his work and we applied the long-lost money toward our daughter’s wedding. But the story doesn’t end there. No. I became curious about the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators; curious enough to go to their website http://www.unclaimed.org and enter my name to search for more. I found another claim in my name and filed the requested paperwork–copy of Driver’s License, copy of utility bill that shows my address, and the claim form. For the price of a stamp and a few minutes’ time, I became another $55 richer.
So, gentle reader, consider my friendly advice to visit the Unclaimed.org website and put in your name, put in your parents’ names, put in your children’s names and see if money is looking for you. Another website MissingMoney.com also has links to unclaimed tax refunds and other property.
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