{"id":77349,"date":"2026-08-27T07:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/americans-are-sitting-on-20-billion-they-dont-know-they-own-heres-how-to-check-in-2-minutes\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:56:48","slug":"americans-are-sitting-on-20-billion-they-dont-know-they-own-heres-how-to-check-in-2-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/americans-are-sitting-on-20-billion-they-dont-know-they-own-heres-how-to-check-in-2-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Are Sitting on $20 Billion They Don&#8217;t Know They Own. Here&#8217;s How to Check in 2 Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">NAUPA says states hold $70B in unclaimed property, with 1 in 7 Americans potentially owed money.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">NAUPA reports state programs returned $4.49B to rightful owners in fiscal 2024.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">MissingMoney.com offers free searches as NAUPA warns against services demanding upfront fees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>State treasurers across the country are quietly holding roughly $70 billion in unclaimed property, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. The money often comes from everyday loose ends like uncashed paychecks, dormant bank accounts, and even abandoned safe deposit box contents, and NAUPA says about 1 in 7 Americans could have something waiting. In fiscal year 2024 alone, state programs returned over $4.49 billion to rightful owners, with earlier reporting putting the average value of each claimed asset at $2,080. A free search on MissingMoney.com can surface potential matches, but NAUPA and the National Association of State Treasurers warn that anyone demanding upfront fees or claiming to reach out directly should be treated as a scam.<\/p>\n<h2>Americans could be missing out on $70 billion in unclaimed money<\/h2>\n<p>You know that little anxiety you get when you can\u2019t find a receipt, a password, or a long-forgotten account? Now scale it up to the state level. NAUPA estimates state treasurers are holding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/02\/01\/how-to-check-if-youre-owed-a-share-of-70-billion-in-unclaimed-assets.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$70 billion<\/a> in unclaimed property across the US. And yes, it can be yours.<\/p>\n<p>The odds are higher than most people think. About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodmorningamerica.com\/living\/story\/reunite-with-your-cash-how-to-find-unclaimed-money-100429644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1 in 7 Americans<\/a>, roughly 33 million people, may have money being held by a state, according to NAUPA. Have you ever moved, changed banks, or switched jobs and just assumed everything followed you?<\/p>\n<h2>What \u201cunclaimed property\u201d really is<\/h2>\n<p>These aren\u2019t mystery jackpots. Unclaimed property often starts out as everyday stuff: uncashed paychecks, dormant or inactive bank accounts, and abandoned safe deposit box contents. It can also include unclaimed stocks, security deposits, and unpaid life insurance benefits, the kinds of financial loose ends that appear after a move, a name change, or a death in the family.<\/p>\n<p>States have been building these programs for decades, and the pile has grown. NAUPA data cited by Stateline says agencies collected $7.8 billion and returned $3.2 billion in 2015, while states were holding $43 billion as of 2013. The scale is big, but the source is usually mundane.<\/p>\n<h2>Real money is already flowing back to people<\/h2>\n<p>States do send money back, steadily, even if the process isn\u2019t always fast. In fiscal year 2024 (July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024), unclaimed property programs returned $4.49 billion to rightful owners, according to NAUPA figures reported by local TV outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Individual claims are often meaningful. A prior period cited by CNBC pegged the average claimed asset at $2,080, and the record payout in US history is believed to be $6.1 million, paid by the Missouri State Treasurer in 2011 from a generations-old stock investment. \u201cRegardless of the size, we try to get it as quickly to [owners] as possible,\u201d former NAUPA president John Murante said.<\/p>\n<h2>How to look it up for free, and avoid getting played<\/h2>\n<p>For a quick, legitimate search, NAUPA and the National Association of State Treasurers point people to <a href=\"https:\/\/nast.org\/unclaimed-bonds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MissingMoney.com<\/a> and Unclaimed.org. The key word here is \u201cfree.\u201d If someone asks you to pay a fee up front to \u201crelease\u201d your funds, you\u2019re no longer dealing with the real system.<\/p>\n<p>That warning isn\u2019t hypothetical. On July 12, 2023, NAUPA and NAST issued an advisory saying they \u201cwill never directly contact individuals regarding unclaimed property, and any such communication should be treated as fraudulent,\u201d amid scams involving fake letters demanding upfront fees. As Massachusetts State Treasurer Deb Goldberg put it on Good Morning America, \u201cIt turns out so many people have unclaimed property. You may be in for a very pleasant surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/featured\/americans-are-sitting-on-20-billion-they-dont-know-they-own-heres-how-to-check-in-2-minutes-49201\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways NAUPA says states hold $70B in unclaimed property, with 1 in 7 Americans potentially owed money. NAUPA reports state programs returned $4.49B to rightful owners in fiscal 2024. MissingMoney.com offers free searches as NAUPA warns against services demanding upfront fees. State treasurers across the country are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":77350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}