(Part 2 of 2)

States do things like annually publishing names in local newspapers of the residents who are owed cash and setting up tables at county fairs to help awareness, but the word still only reaches a small fraction of the population. Even among the few who are aware of the potential to find these lost assets, only a few know where to start their search. A lot of people fall in to the trap of believing that any old forgotten funds web site will do, while others don't realize that they need to search multiple times. There are quite a number of issues that searchers just starting out run in to, but those are some of the most common.

People tend to search the wrong lost money web sites because they're under the impression that any web site that allows them to plug their name in to a search box will do. This couldn't be more incorrect. To start with, there are only a few web sites that actually have the official state records, and even those are generally not accurate because they aren't updated in real time. There are dozens of types of unclaimed property, but according to the State Treasurer's office, TN's most common are stock certificates, bank accounts, unclaimed wages, checks, gift certificates, refunds. Each type has its own "dormancy period", which is the amount of time that must pass before the holder has to hand the assets over to the state to hold for the owners. Because of this, a search may not return any claims simply because the fund won't be turned over until the next month or year, or even for a number of years. This is why people need to search often to be sure they've exhausted all avenues.

On top of the issues mentioned above, beginners will run in to quite a number of stumbling blocks that will frustrate them in their searches. The only way for TN residents to be certain that they're performing complete searches is to educate themselves before they get started. The best way to do this is to mimic how others are doing it. Why make the usual beginner's mistakes when you can learn from expert searchers and duplicate their techniques?

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