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How do i claim my unclaimed money? Will probably be an American thought after the Government announced they have massive amount of unclaimed money.

One way  to claim your money is by searching directly to the agency responsible for its safekeeping. Basically, it involves looking for your name on a list, completing a claim form, having it notarized and presenting some type of documentation proving you are the rightful owner of the assets.

Thanks to Yahoo!, Here are five examples of the kind of lost loot that might turn up when you start searching.

Property Is Held in State Repositories

All U.S. states and territories and the District of Columbia have programs that help owners of unclaimed property find those assets. According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, there is at least $32.8 billion worth of unclaimed property in state custody.

The list includes checking and savings accounts, stocks, insurance payments, annuities, utility security deposits, mineral royalty payments and a host of other things you may have forgotten you owned or didn’t know were worth anything. Besides assets that come directly from financial accounts, state-held property also may include proceeds from the sale of stocks and bonds, or from safe-deposit box contents sold at auction when it became impractical to store them.

The NAUPA website has links to every state’s department in charge of unclaimed property. It also links to MissingMoney.com, a national website in which most states participate.

“If you’ve moved around a lot, that may be convenient, instead of checking several different states,” says NAUPA President John Gabriel. “But if you’ve pretty much been in one or two states only, it’s easier to go directly to those states — especially if your name is common — so you don’t have to filter through a bunch of (unrelated) stuff.”

Find Unredeemed Savings Bonds

If you own or have inherited a matured U.S. savings bond that you never got around to cashing, you may be able to redeem it by going to Treasury Hunt, the U.S. Treasury Department’s searchable database.

The Treasury is currently holding about $16.4 billion in matured, unredeemed U.S. savings bonds, says Joyce Harris, director of public and legislative affairs for the department’s Bureau of the Public Debt.

Only Series E bonds issued in 1974 and after are included in the database. If you are the heir to the original owner of the bond, you’ll need to supply the owner’s Social Security number and legal documentation of your relationship to that person to get the unclaimed property. For other types of bonds, Harris says you can fill out a form from the website and mail it in.

Finding Accounts From Shuttered Banks

If you had an account with a bank or savings and loan that was closed by a regulatory agency between January 1989 and June 28, 1993, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may have some money with your name on it. Unclaimed insured deposits are available for as long as the institution is still under FDIC receivership. You may claim a dividend check for an uninsured portion of a deposit after that period if the U.S. Postal Service returned the check as undeliverable. Here’s where to find out if you’re on the FDIC’s unclaimed funds list.

“In the mid ’90s, there was a change in the law, (which is) why our database goes only until June 28, 1993,” says FDIC spokesman David Barr. “Now, when a bank fails, any unclaimed funds on hand 18 months after the closing are returned to the FDIC, (which) then turns them over to the individual state unclaimed property bureaus.”

The National Credit Union Administration’s Asset Management and Assistance Center in Austin, Texas, is in charge of paying out members’ share accounts whenever a federally insured credit union is liquidated. You can access a list of unclaimed deposits online.

Get Your Tax Refund

Say your income tax refund check got lost in the mail or was returned as undeliverable because you moved. To find out how to get your unclaimed tax refund back, use the IRS search tool that’s aptly named Where’s My Refund?

You can file a claim to replace a lost, stolen or destroyed refund check once after 28 days have passed since the IRS mailed the check. You may also be able to change your address online to get an undeliverable check resent.

To get information about your refund, you’ll have to plug in your Social Security number, filing status and the amount of refund due.

You may also be wondering about a state tax refund. In many states, unclaimed state tax refunds are handled by that state’s department of revenue.

The database will only contain information from your most recent tax return. Your chance to claim an old undeliverable refund check expires once you have filed a return for the current tax year, according to the IRS.

Find Old Pension Benefits

If you had a pension plan with a company that went out of business and you haven’t heard anything about what happened to your unclaimed benefits, check the missing participants’ listing of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The PBGC is a federal corporation created to insure private employers’ defined-benefit plans. Its database does not include profit-sharing and 401(k) plans.

For 401(k)s, profit-sharing plans and IRAs, you might check the website of the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits, which offers free searches of its database.

The payoff for your search could come in the form of an annuity that your former employer bought from a private insurance firm — money the company deposited in a bank or benefits that PBGC pays you if the company transferred its pension funds to the agency when it closed, according to the PBGC website. You may also file a claim if you are the survivor of the worker who was entitled to the benefits.

Lol! The Hungry termites have eaten nearly $225,000 cash in a Bank of India.

The incident took place at an Indian Bank located in Uttar Pradesh, India.

I am surprised with the negligence of the bank officers. What were they doing?

Same Old Action:

The State Bank of India says an enquiry into the latest incident has been held.

“The branch management has been found guilty of laxity due to which the notes were damaged by termites in the Fatehpur branch of Barabanki district,” State Bank of India Chief General Manager Abhay Singh told the Press Trust of India.

“Action will be taken against those responsible in the matter.

“At it was the bank’s fault, it will bear the loss caused due to termites… there will be no loss to the public.”

Ms Singh said that identity numbers on the majority of the notes were still intact, which meant that they could be replaced.

Bank officials discovered that the notes – which were kept in a strongroom – had been damaged by termites earlier this month.

Ms Singh said that directives had now been issued to all branches that stored currency in strongrooms to ensure that the condition of the cash is checked every two months.

Reports say that the branch where the money was stored was old, seldom properly cleaned and known to be a haven for termites.

“It was earlier brought to the notice of the management that termites were damaging files and furniture. Efforts are on to relocate the bank at some other place,” Ms Singh said.

I guess, the bank officials have lot to talk to its customers when they storm the bank for their money.

BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, which is the major public service broadcaster in the UK has plans to Slimming down its news channel to save  £89 million between 2013 to 2017, says boss Mark Thompson

mirror.co.uk says, Bosses may chop its annual £46million budget by “offering a slimmed-down channel focusing on developing news and headlines”.

Yet it would also focus on improving its reputation for “delivering breaking news”.

Other proposals include making BBC Parliament online only and making more money from overseas sales.

A spokeswoman said: “No decisions have been taken.”

But BBC News channel controller Kevin Bakhurst emailed staff: “The channel will be looked at closely.”

The celebration that is not required.

Today marks the start of the year 2011. I am sure many of you  are going to get really tired from all the partying over the weekend.

I don’t really like to celebrate New Year like how many do around me. To me its just another day, of course it marks the start of a whole new year but whats the point in celebrating it ?

New Year’s eve in recent years have really become more extravagant then ever before. It has become an actual necessity to throw a party and spend extravagantly without even blinking.

My argument is very classic. Also known as the Mother Teresa’s argument. Its not fair that we enjoy ourselves and waste millions of dollars on things that are not necessary when we can help the needy and make it worthwhile for someone.

We all can celebrate the New Year in a whole different way by donating the money we planned for drinks and partying to some one who really needs food. Nations can make New Year’s resolutions that can really make a change in the world like eliminate poverty in their nation. Instead of flushing millions of dollars down the drain for a few minutes of spectacular display that no is going to care or talk about after a few hours.

All this seems to be drilled down to the basic nature of mankind, ‘selfish’. We would rather burn our extra cash then give it to someone who hasn’t eaten for the past week.

I am not trying to imply that I am not selfish. As a matter of fact I am and yes I love to burn my cash. But, there is a limit. I wouldn’t burn all my extra cash. I actually know people who burn cash they do not have just to celebrate New Year. Putting themselves in a debt that they really didn’t need.

The joy you get from helping somebody else is far greater and more everlasting then the joy you will ever get from burning your money over a few minutes of entertainment.

JUST TRY IT!

Will.i.am hits at Sony for profiting out of MJ's unfinished work

Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am says he wants no part in the new Michael Jackson album because it stands against everything Michael believed in.

“Whoever put it out and is profiting off of it, I want to see how cold they are … He just wasn’t any ordinary artist. He was a hands-on person. To me it’s disrespectful. There’s no honouring,” TMZ.com quoted him as saying.

According to Will.i.am, the biggest issue is using unfinished Michael tracks on the album.

“Michael Jackson songs are finished when Michael says they’re finished … Maybe if I never worked with him I wouldn’t have this perspective. He was very particular about how he wanted his vocals, the reverb he used … he was that hands-on,” he said.

“It’s worth noting … the album is put out by Sony, through Michael’s estate. So Michael’s kids are the ones who stand to make money off this,” he added. (ANI)

China, the owner of a large portion of U.S. debt,  has begun to put the screws on local banks with new rules on credit and some of the biggest state-owned banks will be affected in the country.

“The jump in the dollar is accompanied by a dip in the yen this morning, which could yet allow the Bank of Japan to pinpoint the sort of currency volatility that would allow it to intervene. Of course when the dollar is in free fall and the yen is rising, the Bank of Japan finds it less tasteful to intervene. But the return of the right-type of volatility might just play in to its hands.”

A majority of the major banking firms have been informed by the Chinese government regulator to place more funds in the country’s Central Bank. Also, the institutions have been told to raise the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 a percentage point.

The money will be held in the People’s Bank of China who recently increased interest rates for the first time in nearly three years.

There’s been widespread concern in China over inflation along with undesired inflows of cash set by the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

China says that by keeping more funds in People’s Bank of China, cash will flow a lot less in the Chinese financial system, relieving some, but not all, inflationary pressures.

Credit : chicagoindiepress.com

Is Batista returning to WWE? Rumors say  ‘Yes’. The information broke out like a fire after Batista gave a short interview.

Batista told BloodyElbow.com – “I will not be doing MMA/Strikeforce any time soon. So you can see me in the future of the WWE”.

Now lets dig deep into the rumors and try to find whether it is possible for him to return back to WWE.

If you analyze why Batista’s  left WWE, he did it  in mood of disappointment of not having him take the opportunity like movies which other superstars often get.

If i could stress a specific member, it would be Cena and Triple H. Both superstars are enjoying their life with great offers from WWE.

Now, Batista after leaving WWE tried hard to get into a job and considered fighting with Bobby Lashley, a star of MMA.

But for whatever reasons, he has not yet signed the contract or competed against him that leads Batista to get into a job.

Its  a known fact that  WWE is the only company that pays its superstars more than any other wrestling company.

I just hope Batista puts his past behind him and return back to WWE. If  Batista returns as the anonymous general manager of  WWE , that would be exciting as we already see a match building up between Rock and Cena.

This Wrestlemania 27, we have the Rock hosting the show. For more on the story CLICK HERE