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How to Find Lost Life Insurance Policies

Mary — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:00:22 +0000

This is a great how-to guide from Consumer Reports. There are search tips and contact info for some of the insurers.
It's estimated that more than $1 billion is unclaimed. The average claim is about $2,000 with the occassional listing for $300,000. You have nothing to lose by looking!

Teen's testimony may force CA to list $68 million

Mary — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:23:13 +0000

I love this story! It shows how a little justified teenage outrage can be channeled for the good of many.

http://elkgrove.patch.com/articles/elk-grove-teen-could-help-expose-68-million-of-your-money-video

Unclaimed Holocaust properties: How to search and claim

Mary — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:59:16 +0000

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day I'm pleased to be able to share these resources for Holocaust survivors or the victims' families.

Holocaust survivors or the victims' heirs may have assets from before the Holocaust they don't know about. This has nothing to do with the state unclaimed property sites. This is important because the survivors are elderly and dying. There are 60,000 assets including:

Real Estate -- apartments, buildings, land plots, and subdivided land in Israel
Monies-- accounts opened in Israeli banks, shares and bonds. Monies acquired through the sale or expropriation of real estate, and the compensation received from profitable assets rental fees on apartments and land.
Jewish Colonial Trust (JCT) Shares Shares in the Jewish Colonial Fund established by Bejamin Ze'ev Herzl in 1899 to serve as the Zionist Movement's financial arm.
Contents of safes and art pieces

There are several sites people can check:

The Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets There's a woman in the video that found assets from her great grandparents.

Project HEART If you or your Jewish relatives had property that was confiscated, looted or forcibly sold during the Holocaust era, You could be entitled to participate in Project HEART. (Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce)

The Simon Wiesenthal Center Provides claims procedures for locating Swiss, Swedish, French and British bank accounts and insurance policies.

The Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is another resource.
Take a moment and look. Then share the information.

Above all, never forget.

Are you missing out on tax refund money?

Mary — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:36:55 +0000

An estimated 25 percent of people are eligible for the earned income tax credit but don't apply for it. Check the numbers in this article and see if you're eligible.

http://www.register-herald.com/business/x2056603353/Are-you-missing-out-on-tax-refund-money

Class action lawsuit filed against John Hancock for unpaid life benefits

Mary — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 01:31:32 +0000

John Hancock is the first of what is sure to be many insurance companies with a class action lawsuit filed for not paying out life insurance benefits when the policy holder died.

The suit comes after an investigation into the practices of many major insurers and the money they remit to the state unclaimed property site. What was found, was the insurers were using the Social Security Death Index to determine when an annuitant died and they could stop making payments. However, they were not using the very same database to determine when a policy holder died and they needed to make a payment to the beneficiary.

Now, a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the people who have been affected by this. This article gives the details. This is a good time to update your beneficiary contact information. In some cases, the person may have already died or it may be an ex-spouse or some other person that you don't want to receive this payout.

$58 billion unclaimed: Is some of it yours?

Mary — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:20:48 +0000

Journalist Melanie Hicken does an indepth report on on CNNMoney about some of the many places that you may have missing money. Read the article and find out where to search.

The information about foreclosures is especially useful.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/24/pf/unclaimed-money/

$3 billion in unclaimed property available for NY's hardest hit areas

Mary — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:03:00 +0000

NY has nearly $3 billion in unclaimed property available for residents and businesses in Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens. People just need to know about it and then look. If you used to live in any of these areas, some of the money might belong to you. It's free to search and free to claim. You can check any state you've ever lived in by going to www.unclaimed.org.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/I-Team-Billions-of-Unclaimed-Cash-tied-to-Hard-hit-Sandy-Neighborhoods-182092831.html

Kenya is the first country in Africa with unclaimed property program

Mary — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:56:59 +0000

So it's off to a slow start. Big deal. At least it's a start. It's leading the way. It takes time to get it up and running. The great thing is people will be able to get their money back that they forgot about.
I'm certain that other countries in Africa will eventually follow.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000066260&story_title=State-blamed-for-slow-implementation-of-key-law

Jamaica makes unclaimed funds available

Mary — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:52:18 +0000

Slowly but surely, the world is giving money back to the people it belongs to. Jamaica is the latest country to make the forgotten bank accounts available to the owners. The only downside is they are listed by account number. But at least it's a start. It's more than they had before.
http://www.onlinecounsellingjamaica.com/money-in-dormant-accountsunclaimed-bank-balances-jamaica/

CT sets new national record for largest single listing returned

Mary — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:59:14 +0000

The Connecticut state treasurer has a new national record. The largest single payout of unclaimed property in US history now stands at $32.8 million for 1.3 million shares of stock. This surpasses the previous high last year of $6.1 million, also from stocks, to a woman in Missouri. Prior to that, it was $4 million in New York from stocks.

There's a definite pattern.

The State of Washington enacted legislation in 2011 that allows it to sell your stocks as soon as they cross the door. It doesn't matter what the market is doing at the moment. After all, states can't use shares of stock, but they can utilize the cash until you claim it.

States are decreasing the dormancy period, that period of time where there has been no owner-initiated activity, from five years down to three for most forms of unclaimed property. In addition, the trend is changing the abandoned definition regarding securities from returned mail to owner-initiated inactivity.

The key words here are owner-initiated activity. The stocks earning money, the money going directly to your bank account, none of these are signs that the owner is even still alive, let alone that they remember they have the account. Owner-initiated activity is just as the name implies. You vote your proxy. You add to the account or make a withdrawal. You update your beneficiary information, confirm your address, call, write or log-in to the account. There is some form of activity that comes from you.

It's far better to prevent your money from going to the state than having to file a claim to get it back.

To see if you have unclaimed property go to www.unclaimed.org. Click on every state you've ever lived in and enter your name. You may have lost a fortune and not even know it.

http://www.commercialrecord.com/news151611.html