Most of us have heard stories where someone checked the Unclaimed Property website for their state and discovered a lost family fortune! I’ve only heard the extravogant stories where enormous amounts of money from great-great-uncles or something were left in a will for some remote relative. However, the reality is that you could have unclaimed property from simple things like a lost paycheck from a former employer or a long-forgotten safety deposit box.

To proove that it can happen to anyone, about 4 months ago, my parents received a postcard from the Missouri State Treasurers office informing me that I have unclaimed property. The postcard instructed me to go to the Missouri Unclaimed property website, find my claim, and print out a form that I was to have notarized and mail back in to the state. The website informs you if the unclaimed property value is less than or greater than $50. Mine said greater than $50!

There was no indication where this unclaimed property originated from, but I was anxious to get it! So I mailed in the form, and forgot about it. Last friday I got a check for a cool $1000!!! However, there was still no mention where this money came from! I called the treasurer’s office and left a message stating who I was and that I would like to know where this money came from. I just checked my messages this morning and found out that it was indeed a lost paycheck from a company I worked for during an internship during college. So now I know where the money came from, but I still don’t know how it was possible that I did not receive the paycheck since I received my compensation via direct deposit to my bank account! However, it doesn’t matter to me because I am a $1000 richer than I was and I feel like it was free money!

So if you live in Missouri, click the link above and find out if you have free money waiting for you!! If you don’t live in Missouri, then hurry up and Google for ‘<your state name> unclaimed property’!