How to Recover Unclaimed Federal Financial Assets

While there is no central government agency that handles unclaimed assets, there are many departments within different agencies that deal with different loss situations. For instance, some assets are lost due to bank closures, while other assets are literally lost in the mail because of an incorrect last name or wrong address. The key to recovering your unclaimed asset is to find the right department.

Instructions

1. Go to the USA.gov website, which is maintained by the federal government. They can help you recover certain assets related to federal agencies, such as tax refunds due you from the IRS, or your share of proceeds from a federal class action suit.

2. Determine what kind of asset you are looking for. Where you search depends on what kind of asset you hope to recover. The USA.gov website has links to help you recover money lost due to bank failures; replace damaged currency; and replace lost, stolen or destroyed savings bonds.

3. Click on the link for the National Credit Union Administration website for assets that may have been lost in a credit union.

4. Each state has an agency responsible for reporting and collecting unclaimed property, and each state has its own laws and methods for recovering it. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) website lets you to search for unclaimed property by state.

References

• National Credit Union Administration: Unclaimed Deposits

Resources

• USA: Government May Owe You Money
• NAUPA