Lost money has been a major issue the government has been facing in 2011. Whether it is an old uncashed check, life insurance proceeds or unused gift cards forgotten in 2011, if you or a close person is entitled to any form of lost money or asset held by a state, then it is the right time to stake a claim as soon as you can. If you keep delaying these things, then the chances are that the cash-strapped states across the United States will grab any chance they get to lay hands on the unclaimed money or property.
The state treasurers and other agencies collectively are sitting on billions of unclaimed money that is the rightful property of millions of consumers. Although many agencies are making an effort to create awareness among the people about the various lost money search methods, there are still huge amounts from 2011 that are waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners.
The lost money can be in the form of:
• Lost or forgotten property
• Savings and checking accounts
• Traveler’s checks
• Gift certificates or cash coupons
• Tax refunds
• Royalty payments
• Checking and savings accounts
• Safe deposit boxes
• Undistributed wages
• Stock certificates or accounts
• Uncashed checks
• Telephone, utility and rental security deposits
Insurance benefits and policies
• Bonds and mutual funds
• Certificates of deposit, stocks and dividends
• Trust funds and estate proceeds

The biggest amount of unclaimed money last year resulted from long forgotten insurance policies. Other larger chunks include money from assets discovered after years in safe deposit boxes or years old military benefits the people failed to claim. Most of the time people have already lost track of their assets due to transfers, home shifting, or personal crisis.
The pile of lost money is rising day by day as the banks, retailers and other businesses that are holders of property are not able to locate their rightful owners, due to wrong addresses or the persons have moved to a new state. If the assets go dormant for two or five years, then these are termed as lost or abandoned and are turned over to the state treasury/agencies or the concerned companies.
If you too have some fund or asset of yours that has gone unclaimed, then it’s time to conduct a lost money search. You can find any lost money belonging to you through the state maintained databases, which are available at state websites like NAUPA or other sites.
All these websites contain an extensive database that consist of the list of persons and the money or properties that are abandoned under their name in all the states. These databases are updated from time to time, so you can be assured to find all the information of your lost assets for the year 2011. You simply have to enter your name and other details, if you remember on these websites to get a list of all names matching your query. That is the first, and most important step to finding unclaimed money.

Author's Bio: 

There are many different websites to use to search for unclaimed money. However, the best and largest website to use is CashUnclaimed.com. CashUnclaimed.com is an all-in-one searching database, which searches both state and federal records at once. Log on to http://www.cashunclaimed.com today for your free unclaimed money search.