8 Places to Look for Unclaimed Money

State Departments of Taxation

Just like federal tax refunds, state tax refunds often don't find their intended recipients because of name changes, moves, or an undeliverable address. Check the website unclaimed.org, which provides a way for you to search by clicking on a state, territory, or province from a map or drop-down box. Be sure to search in every state where you have had an address.

The Internal Revenue Service

Each year, billions of dollars of income tax refund checks are undelivered or unclaimed due to incorrect addresses, incorrect bank account information, and from taxpayers moving addresses. Contact the IRS to track down any lost tax refunds or unclaimed money.

If you haven't filed a tax return for a prior year, and you have a refund coming to you, the IRS does not penalize you for filing late.

If you believe you're owed a refund, but you have not received it, you can use the IRS Where's My Refund site.

Employer Retirement Plans

Sometimes people change jobs, forgetting about a small balance in their previous employer's retirement plan. And sometimes, years later, that balance has grown quite pleasantly. The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits can help you locate such surprises. The registry is a free resource: a public service organization devoted to helping former employees locate lost or forgotten benefits. This site also can be useful for executors of estates who are trying to track down unclaimed money on behalf of a loved one or deceased person.

Failed Pension Plans

If you worked for a company whose pension plan failed, don't assume all is lost. It might be that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which insures pension benefits, owes you some money; it may not be the full amount due, but it would be something. Start digging for your long-lost treasure at the Find a Trusted Pension Plan section of the PBGC site.

Old Bank Accounts

You may have unclaimed funds in old bank accounts, in the shape of insurance premium refunds, utility or phone account deposits, dividend payments, escrow accounts, or wages owed to you by a former employer. Using a database of governmental unclaimed property records, the site missingmoney.com provides a place to look for many of these types of errant funds all at once.

If you had funds in a bank that was closed between January 1989 and June 1993, you may be able to make a claim with the FDIC, assuming your deposits were insured and the bank remains in FDIC receivership. Since June 1993, such funds have been turned over to state agencies.

The U.S. Treasury

The Treasury Department has a record of billions of dollars of savings bonds that no longer pay interest and yet have not been redeemed by the bond owner. If you still have these savings bonds, you'll want to cash them in or reinvest them so that your money can start working for you again. If you think you have such bonds but can't locate them, the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service offers a claim form for lost, stolen, or destroyed items. 

Life Insurance Policies

Life insurance benefits go unclaimed more often than you might think. If you owned a life insurance policy from a company that demutualized, it may owe you cash or stock; if you had a relative pass away, unclaimed life insurance benefits might be waiting out there for you. In either case, the place to start your search is at demutualization-claims.com.

Credit Card Rewards

If you have credit cards in your wallet that offer rewards for the points you earn, you may have some unclaimed money. Cards such as the Citi Double Cash Card and Discover it Cash Back Credit Card offer cash back rewards, which return a percentage of all purchases made on the cards.

To see if you have unclaimed cash back, log in to your account and find the rewards center. Within the rewards center, you should see what you have earned. If you are unable to locate this area, reach out to the customer service team of your credit card provider.