Florida’s treasure hunt

Tap in to the Largest Treasure Gathering This Side of the Caribbean

In our home state of Florida, when you hear beaches and the high seas, it’s not a stretch to dream of pirate treasure washing up on the shore. Fortunately, Florida does have a massive treasure hunt in progress in the form of unclaimed property. If you’ve been a resident at any time in the past or are still residing in the sunshine state, you can search a massive database to check if you have any unclaimed funds in your name. Once you find your share, it’s a simple process to claim it.

The office of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer controls property accounts valued at more than $1 billion, according to the official website for the search, FLTreasureHunt.gov. This “treasure,” they report, comes from “dormant accounts in financial institutions, insurance and utility companies, securities and trust holdings.” This could be unpaid wages, refunds from various organizations, even valuables left behind in safety deposit boxes.

The search is easy and so is claiming the property. Remember to search all your aliases (i.e. maiden name) and be ready to give your social security or driver’s license number through their protected website interface. You will also be asked questions that help to confirm your identity (like a previous city or address you’ve been associated with). After that, it’s just a matter of printing and mailing a form with the claim’s reference number to the state for verification.

You may have received letters from companies who have done the search for you—ignore them. Usually, these companies take a percentage of the claim for doing the legwork. If you do the search on your own, you can avoid this kind of intermediary and keep all the funds for yourself.

With all this treasure just waiting to be found, take a moment to hunt by clicking the link above. You may find quite a stash of wealth you never knew you had. There’s no statute of limitations so you can claim the money at any time. Go ahead and awaken your inner pirate with a little digging through the sands of the internet. It’s a lot less messy than Blackbeard’s methods.

Have you found any unclaimed property through the treasure hunt? Share your story with us on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear what treasures you’ve discovered.