State offices hold most of it. These federal sources and guides cover the rest. Every search here is free.
Paper savings bonds that reached final maturity stop earning interest, but they stay cashable.
If a company pension plan ended and you were a member, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may hold your benefit.
When a bank fails, the FDIC pays out insured deposits.
If a credit union was liquidated, the National Credit Union Administration holds the shares and deposits that members never claimed.
The IRS publishes a refund-status tool, and refunds that come back undeliverable can be reissued once your address is correct.
If you once had an FHA-insured mortgage and paid it off, HUD may owe you a refund of part of the insurance premium.
The Department of Veterans Affairs keeps a free search for life-insurance funds that were never paid out.
Federal courts hold money that was never paid out, often after bankruptcy cases.
When the Labor Department finds that an employer underpaid workers, it collects back wages.
The Department of the Interior manages Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts for Native American and Alaska Native beneficiaries.
Search for the person's name in their state and every state they lived in, then run the federal searches.
Unclaimed-property sites match names as they were written on old accounts.
Every official search for unclaimed money is free.
Check three places: the old employer's plan administrator, your state's unclaimed-property office, and PBGC if the plan was terminated.
Companies must turn over money they cannot return to its owner after a dormancy period, usually one to five years depending on the item and state.
Businesses can be owed money too: vendor refunds, overpayments, utility deposits and uncashed cheques.
Start with your state. About the state programmes: how they work.
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