Finance Wanted.

By Russ D Johnson

Most people know Tennessee for its country music and world famous barbeque, but the state is also home to a lesser-known treasure - unclaimed property. In fact the TN Treasury Department adds tens of millions of dollars in Tennessee Unclaimed Money to its rolls each year, and only a fraction of it is ever reunited with the rightful owners. In turn, this pile of cash grows larger and large by the year.

The TN Treasury department took in about $40 million in unclaimed property in 2006 alone, and only returned $20 million to the rightful owners. This means that another $20 million was added to the already swollen pile of cash that remains unclaimed. This trend of returning only a fraction of what the state takes in is consistent across the country because of a lack of education about these funds. The truth is, most citizens are simply unaware of the tens of billions out there waiting to be claimed.

States do things like annually publishing names in local newspapers of the people who are owed money and setting up tables at county fairs to promote awareness, but the message still only reaches a tiny fraction of the population. Even among those who are aware of the potential to find these lost assets, very few know where to begin their search. Many fall in to the trap of believing that any old missing money site will do, while others don't understand that they need to search more than once. There are quite a number of issues that searchers just starting out run in to, but those are the most common.

People often search the wrong lost money sites because they're under the impression that any site that let's them put their name in to a search box will do. This couldn't be more wrong. For starters, there are very few sites that actually have the official state listings, and even those are notoriously inaccurate because they aren't updated in real time. There are dozens of types of unclaimed funds, but according to the State Treasurer's office, Tennessee's most common are bank accounts, stock certificates, checks, unclaimed wages, refunds, gift certificates. Each type has it's own "dormancy period", which is the time that must pass before the holder is required to hand the monies over to the state to hold for the owners. Because of this a search may not return any claims simply because the fund won't be turned over until the following month or year, or even for a number of years. This is why people must search frequently to be certain they've exhausted all avenues.

In addition to the issues mentioned above, beginners will run in to quite a number of stumbling blocks that will frustrate them in their searches. The only way for Tennessee residents to know that they're performed thorough searches is to educate themselves before they get started. The best way to do this is to mimic what others are doing. Why go the trial and error route when they can learn from experienced searchers and duplicate their techniques?

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Tennessee unclaimed money and missing money across the country.