They say everything comes big in the Lone Star State- the longhorned bovines, cowboy boots, prairies, steaks, cars, and piles of money. Texas unclaimed money that is. Texas comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has almost $2 billion dollars of unclaimed cash to give-away to her state's residents. Well, it's not so much giving-away as giving-back since the lost cash was already theirs to begin with. Funny thing is most of the 200,000 people owed Texas unclaimed properties don't even know they have money coming to them.
People tend to forget to collect salary or insurance checks when they get new jobs or move to a new house. They also forget to leave behind forwarding addresses when they move and this is one of the main causes for lost checks. When business and financial establishments can't find the owners of these lost financial assets for 5 years (in Texas), they are turned over to the state as dictated by Texas Unclaimed Property Law which follows the country's escheat laws. The unclaimed funds stay with Texas state Comptroller's office until their owners come to claim them.
Unclaimed property in Texas covers anything from forgotten bank accounts, savings accounts, stock and cash dividends, uncollected insurance benefits and money orders to gift certificates, un-cashed checks and contents of safety deposit boxes which have been considered abandoned by their owners. The latter is the only example of tangible assets under the Texas Unclaimed Property Law and these are auctioned-off in dBay after 2 years of being turned-over to the State Comptroller's office. So if you're looking for family heirlooms or antiques that your Texan relatives may have lost over the years, it's best to go check-out eBay.
George Tamayo, manager of the unclaimed funds division in Texas says "From our experience, we determined we were getting the most bang for our buck on eBay." to which he adds "It's more cost-effective, because we are able to do the auctions ourselves." His state was one of the first to make use of the internet auction site early in 2002, switching from the traditional method of disposing of the abandoned property through live auctions. According to Jackie Schroeter, safe deposit box manager for Texas, posting on eBay saves her office time and effort. With the live auctions, the Unclaimed Property office would have to shut down to coordinate them due to lack in manpower. It just takes a few clicks with a computer mouse now.
The proceeds from these auctions go back to the Texas unclaimed property fund where they still can be claimed by their rightful owners at any time. "The Unclaimed Property List contains the names of Texans with property valued at $100 or more that was reported to the state within the last year.", says Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn who also announced in a recent report, "Since I took office, I have returned more than $532 million in unclaimed property to its original owners,"
This is good news indeed for residents of the Lone Star State, but don't think the Comptroller is going to come to your front door and deliver your lost funds to you. Unless you have no immediate need for extra bucks in your pocket, you should search for unclaimed money in Texas or other states now!
Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site is http://www.unclaimedmoney.net which is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Texas unclaimed money and missing money across the country.
Source: www.ezinearticles.com
