Find your lost money

Did you know there is around $1.1 billion in lost shares, bank accounts and life insurance across Australia?
a bunch of confetti flies through the air

Did you know there is around $1.1 billion in lost shares, bank accounts and life insurance across Australia?

Basically, unclaimed money is money from lost bank accounts, shares, investments and life insurance policies that becomes lost when you move house and forget to update your details with a financial institution or company.

Unclaimed money goes to ASIC and is transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The good news is unclaimed money is available to be claimed, at any time, by the rightful owner and there is no time limit on claims.

Bank accounts become unclaimed after 7 years if the account is inactive (no deposits or withdrawals). Life insurance policies become unclaimed 7 years after the policy matures and is not claimed.

So how do you get your slice of this $1.1 billion pie?

There are three key places you can look.

Search ASIC

There’s more than $1 billion in unclaimed money held by ASIC. Think you may have unclaimed money? Here’s what to do:

  1. Do a quick online search on ASICs Money Smart website
  2. Found lost money? Make a note of the Original Transaction Number (OTN) for each lost account (you’ll need it in step 3)
  3. Lodge a claim with the relevant financial institution

Search for deceased estates

State governments hold unclaimed money from deceased estates. You will need to contact the public trustee in the state where the money is held. Here are contacts for each state:

Search for dividends and other money

State governments hold unclaimed money from share dividends, salaries and wages, cheques, trust money, over-payments and proceeds of sale, to name a few.

Contact the following government agencies for unclaimed money such as dividends, salaries and wages, rent and rental bonds, cheques, trust money, over-payments, principal and interest, expenses, refunds, deposits, premiums, royalties, commissions, creditors, debentures, bonds, convertible notes and proceeds of sale.

Your state government agency may not hold all types of money listed above.

Always be exploring

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