Washington State Owes Its Citizens Over $700 Million Dollars

The state of Washington is home to some of the world wide web's major players. Even Bill Gates, the United States' richest man, hails from Medina, WA and his company, Microsoft, is based in Redmond. Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com and Marchex also call Washington their home. The fact then, that over 1.5 million residents are owed an excess of $700 million unclaimed money in Washington State is ironic, sense searching for unclaimed money and property can be done online from the comfort of their bedroom or the local Starbucks.

According to the Washington State Department Of Revenue website, typical unclaimed property includes abandoned bank accounts, insurance proceeds, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, safe deposit box contents, utility and phone company deposits, uncashed payroll, insurance, and traveler's checks, and other financial assets. Unclaimed property doesn't include most tangible assets like real estate and vehicles. State Law requires banks, insurance companies, retailers, credit unions, utilities, corporations, and government entities to turn Washington unclaimed money and property over to the state if their owners can't be located after 3-5 years (depending on the item).

The State's Unclaimed Property Law states: "State law protects unclaimed property until it can be returned. There is no time limit for filing a claim and rightful owners or their heirs can claim property reported since 1955. The state may auction the content of safe deposit boxes, however, if not claimed within five years."

Washington was the first state to have a streamlined system for claiming lost money and property. In fact, the Washington State Department of Revenue recently won the Award for Outstanding Management and Organizational Initiative for its 'Unclaimed Property E-Claim System'. The amount waiting to be reunited with their owners is still in excess of half a billion dollars however, despite the unclaimed property program being administered to reach out to more owners of Washington unclaimed money and that makes claiming easier for them.

The problem may lie in more than one factor- the fast-paced lifestyle we live in today, the notion people have that piles of paperwork are involved when dealing with the government, and plain disbelief. The more people jump from job to job, changing addresses, or from spouse to spouse (changing last names), the more likely they are to lose track of their financial assets like tax refunds from the IRS or inheritances from a relative that had passed-away. Even those that are aware of the possibility that they might have unclaimed money in Washington and other states might not bother doing a search at all thinking it's not worth the hassle.

The Unclaimed Funds Division collects over $55 million in lost or abandoned assets annually in Washington State and that amount snowballs with each passing year. Study up on all the different ways to search, how often to search, and wear to search and get started tracking down money you could have coming today! Who knows? For a change, the government may owe you money this time instead of the other way around.