Find Out If New York State Owes You Money
The New York State Comptroller's Office has an online database where you can search to see if you have any unclaimed funds from the state.
According to the Comptroller's website, so far $261,333,720 has been returned to New Yorkers in 2020 alone. There is currently $16.5 billion (yes, billion) in unclaimed funds.
To find out if you're owed money, click here to search by name and address.
In Erie County, the Comptroller's office says there are 277,469 instances of funds waiting to be claimed, which total $141,688,760; Genesee County has 13,274 worth $4,988,061, and Niagara County has 52,753 open claims worth $23,024,496.
So where does all the money come from?
Types of unclaimed funds accounts include bank accounts, like savings, checking and CDs; court funds, dividends, proceeds from an estate, insurance benefits or policiesl stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and telephone, utility, or security deposits.
Organizations that manage these funds like banks, insurance companies, corporations and the courts are required by law to report dormant accounts to the State Comptroller, according to the Comptroller's website.
"These organizations must attempt to notify you by mail and publish the information in newspapers. Despite these efforts, many funds remain unclaimed and are turned over to the Office of the State Comptroller."
And that's how your name winds up in a database like this -- depending on the type of funds you're trying to recover, the Comptroller's website has instructions on how to fill out required forms.