Grab your unclaimed funds!
Each year about this time I give a present to friends and family that costs me nothing but can benefit them immensely! Every state treasury holds unclaimed funds from all sorts of reasons. Maybe you were owed a refund check from the government, a retailer or utility. You may have been in a class action lawsuit and were unaware that you had money coming. Maybe you were renting an apartment and didn't realize you had a deposit check coming to you. In such cases funds that are unclaimed are transferred from banks to state government. And you can stake your claim!
I've been able to track down thousands of unexpected dollars for friends and family just by going into state sites that maintain these databases. They're easy to use and even easier to find. Just Google "unclaimed funds" by whichever state is relevant. Maybe you were raised in California, attended college in Massachusetts and now live in New York. Hey, that's 3 states to check.
It's also worthwhile to see if there are undistributed funds for deceased relatives. Heirs will be able to locate and access these with proper documentation.
Here are a few sites to check: