Seen On

Long Forgotten Money Can Always Be Claimed

State Has A Billion Dollars In Unclaimed Cash & Checks

Bureau of Unclaimed Property: 1-888-258-2253

MIAMI (CBS4) ― It's nick-named the Florida Treasure Hunt and it could help you find lost money, forgotten funds and other belongings you've lost track of years ago. Gold, diamonds, rare coins are just some of the forgotten "treasure" inside Florida's Unclaimed Property program. And the CBS4 Your Money Team is helping you get every penny back you might be owed.

The state's unclaimed property vault in Tallahassee is filled with "Forgotten Treasure" including cash and checks that local residents have waiting for them from safety deposit boxes and bank accounts statewide.

Elsie Chin, an unclaimed money finder, said she just forgot all about it;  an old check.

"I didn't even know I had that money. It was so good; some insurance; I can't remember. It was so long ago."

Chin was watching the CBS4 "Your Money Phone Bank" on Florida's billion-dollar unclaimed property program, and learned that her name was on the list.

Chin explained, "They pulled it up and saw I had $351. I thought it was great."

Chin is not the only one finding a few forgotten bucks.

Take a look at this: the Miami Dolphins are owed about $13,000, and its organization explained its checking out the state's account.

CBS4 Al Sunshine added there's unclaimed money for various government agencies, too, such as the Miami-Dade School Board, Miami-Dade Aviation, even the Miami-Dade Police Department.

So far, there's been $10,277.13 of unclaimed property found by our viewers.

Click Here if you think the state could owe you money.

If you think you may have hidden money out there, and can't find it on the state's site, let CBS4 Search 4 Cash.

In addition to Florida, a number of other entities have their 'treasure hunts' where people can log on to find out if they are owed any money; Click Here for more information.

                                MORE ADVICE FROM AL

The North Miami Dade restaurant operator, Elsie Chin, was interested in seeing if she might have some forgotten money waiting for her in the state's unclaimed property program.

As I reported, it's a bllion-dollar program with forgotten checks, cash and safety deposit box contents that owners have forgotten.

For Elsie, it turned into a $351 call. That's how much she had waiting for her from a forgotten insurance check.

I've also found hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds for local agencies within Miami-Dade and even the school board.

And if you think you heard about this story before, you're right.

Our commitment to "Connecting with the Community" goes back a long time. I first reported on South Florida's "Forgotten Money" accounts almost 20 years ago. Back then, we found dozens of local viewers who were owed big bucks they had forgotten about. This is not a new story for me, but rather the latest episode in a long-time effort to do something to solve a lot of the problems facing our community.

With help of "CBS4 Neighbors4Neighbors", we've hosted more than 10 years of Tax-Tip Telephone Banks offering the latest in free tax advice from our team of tax experts.

As our real estate market has slowed, and the general South Florida economy slowed down, we have made a commitment to "doing more" to help us through these tough financial times. That's why we've stared our "CBS4 Your Money"  phone banks and consumer investigations to not only tell you about the latest financial and consumer news, but also why it's happening and what you can do to find the best deals and "stretch your bucks" as far as possible.

Helping viewers through tough times is not a "forgotten story" for me.

Stay tuned and find out the latest deals and money-saving tips.

Got an idea to save money?

Please let me know.

I'll guarantee it won't be a "forgotten story".

Al Sunshine

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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