Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - You May Have Missing Money... Here's How to Find It!

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

This week, Money Rehab is hosted by the Executive Producer of the show, Morgan Lavoie. Today, you'll hear the first episode she was ever featured on: Nicole's guide to finding your missing money. Did you know that there are BILLIONS of dollars in unclaimed money in the US? Want to find yours? In this episode, Nicole shows you how!

I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Hi money rehabbers. It's Morgan LeVoy, the EP of the show. And this week I'm going to be guest hosting money rehab. I've been producing money rehab with Nicole since it launched in 2021. I remember so clearly the first time I ever met Nicole, it was over Zoom because, you know, it was 2021

and everything was over Zoom. Might've even been 2020. And Nicole had booked an Airbnb to write, honestly, I forget which book at that point, it might've been Miss Independent, and she was in the middle of the desert somewhere. And so we were on this call talking about what the show might look like,

and every so often there would just be this screeching noise in the background because where Nicole was, there was a large population of wild hogs. And so every so often she would flip her camera around and you would just see this small stampede of very scary looking wild creatures. And I just remember thinking, I love this woman and I can't wait to work with her. And at the time I was at iHeartRadio also producing other shows like Bethany Frankel's podcast and Bill Clinton's podcast, Minnie Driver's podcast and a bunch of others.

But Money Rehab has always had a really special place in my heart. I love the show so much that I actually left my job at iHeart to start M&N with Nicole and it's just been the ride of a lifetime, the biggest opportunity I've ever had, which is why I'm so grateful to be guest hosting the show this week. So this week, you'll hear episodes ranging from a conversation on the business of drag with the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars Season Two,

Alaska, a deeper dive on some of those quote unquote boring businesses Nicole has talked about. For that conversation, I'm gonna be talking with the CEO of laundry and dry cleaning company Rinse. You're also gonna hear my conversation with Gia Tolentino, staff writer at The New Yorker, and one of the most important writers of our time talk about what the killing of the UnitedHealth CEO

says about the state of the healthcare system in the US. All of that and more you'll hear this week. But first, I'm going to share the very first episode of Money Rehab that I was ever featured on with an even more special guest, my mom. And in that conversation, Nicole will also help you find free money. So here's that episode.

However cliche it is, and I think you guys know that I am very allergic to cliches. I think we've all had moments where we've thought to ourselves, gosh, I wish money did grow on trees. Unfortunately, we don't have the science to make that happen just yet. But we do have something pretty close. And I think it will make Truman happy who submitted this listener question. Hey, Nicole, I've been trying to find creative ways to bring in a little extra money.

I just had a baby and I'm even more motivated to grow my own wealth and not only support my daughter but also not pass on all my bad money habits. Are there any secret money hacks you could share? Well Truman, you have come to the right place for some secret money hacks. I am about to blow your mind. This is the stuff that when I tell folks, they think it's too good to be true, but it is not. So what is unclaimed money, you ask?

Basically, it's money on paper that belongs to someone or that someone is entitled to, but they haven't scooped it up just yet. It's actually very common, and there are billions with a B dollars of unclaimed money in the United States. And sir, you could be one of them. Here are the six places you can find some unclaimed money. Number one, your state.

If a bank, insurance company, or even state government owes you money and can't track you down, they send your money to the state's unclaimed property office. This is actually really common. In a lot of cases, it happens when someone moves out of state and there's an issue with the forwarding address. It's happened to me. I've lived in 10 cities in the last 20 years and a bunch of different apartments in those

cities so the money trail often does get lost in the void. To see if this is your lucky day, check out USA.gov slash unclaimed dash money. Number two, your paycheck. If you left a job in the middle of a pay period or you left a job with some unclaimed vacation days owed to you you or if you worked for an employer that broke a labor law, you could be owed money. You can find out if you have money owed to you at this amazing website. They do not pay me to say this.

This is not a hashtag ad, but I do love unclaimed.org. I have found my own money on there. It is genius. Please mosey on over there. We will link this in the show notes and also on our Instagram page, but I would bookmark it, honestly, if I were you. You could also go to the US Department of Labor website. They have a database of workers who have money waiting to be claimed. The DOL, that is Department of Labor for short, holds unpaid wages for up to three years. So get it done today. You don't want that to expire. Number three, a savings bond. I have heard this story a million times. Remember when

you were really little and you wanted that shiny bike or whatever, but grandpa gave you that savings bond and you just wanted to rip it up right then and there and then your mom or whoever put it in a shoe box and said you should keep this forever and you'll appreciate when you're old enough, right? You're thinking, yeah, whatever happened to that savings bond? Well, if that savings bond has matured, you may finally be able to get that bike and then some. This is also a very cool website. It is treasuryhunt.gov. Seriously, it's like a little treasure hunt for your own money. You can see if you have a bond that has stopped earning interest that you can now cash in. Don't

forget if you're under 18, the bond may be under your parents' name, so check that too. Under 18, the bond may be under your parents' name, so check that too. Number four, a tax refund. There may have been a time where you didn't think you needed to fill out a tax return because you didn't reach a certain level of income just yet, but that doesn't mean you didn't necessarily get a refund. Go to the IRS website, IRS.gov, to see if you have any unclaimed tax return moolah. Number five, a utility deposit. This may or may not surprise you depending on which kinds of landlords you've had on

your housing journey, but not every landlord is itching to give you back your security deposit. I've talked to a lot of people who didn't think about their security deposit once they moved out, you know, there's a lot of hoopla when you're moving. But now is the time, my friends, go back and check your bank statement to see if you ever got that security deposit back and start teeing up a follow-up email to your old landlord because I'm sure he or she misses you fondly. Number six, class action lawsuits.

You know, we've all seen those ads for class action lawsuits or maybe even received random emails. The ads normally broadcast in the dead of night and are usually for some sort of vaginal mesh issue or, you know, those casually exploding Samsung phones. But there are actually a ton of active class action lawsuits right now across a wide range of industries, and you may be eligible to cash in on a settlement.

Check out classaction.org slash database to see if you have any ongoing suits that you could be part of. If you're driving or you're out and about, don't worry, check the show notes, check our Instagram page at Money Rehab Show for all of these lovely links. Like I said, finding unclaimed money is common and these tips are very real.

They have legit worked for me in the past. And here is one of our producers also putting it to the test. Okay, so here's what happened. Also, hi everyone, it's Morgan, one of the producers on Money Rehab. So I did go to unclaimed.org. And spoiler alert, I did have unclaimed money,

which is so exciting. It's weird, I guess the college that I went to owes me money. I'm honestly not sure what it's for, but to be totally straight up with you, because of the way that the unclaimed money was sent to New York State, I actually can't collect it online, and I also can't see how much money there is for me. So fingers crossed it's you know a million dollars. But what I have to do now is print out the mail-in form and send it in, which is totally fine. There's money out there that I didn't know about that has my name on it. That's awesome. But in terms of the show, I don't want to leave you guys hanging, you know, snail mail. Who knows how long this could take? I

thought instead I would try to help someone find some unclaimed money. So I called my mom. Hello this is Lynn Boulter, I have unclaimed money. Hi mom. Hi, honey. Let's find you your unclaimed money. Sounds good. So we went to unclaimed.org first, and there were only a couple pieces of information that we had to put in before we could start the free search. Claimant relationship.

Personal representative. Are you going to charge me? Okay, so it says claimant individual for last name, first name. Now it's asking for your address. And that was really it. So then we submitted it. You have a couple things, but the one that looks most interesting to me. Oh wait, there's more?

There's one that just belongs to you and it's under $25, but there's another one between both you and Tim and it's over $25. So I feel like we should look into that one. Let's look into that one. So to get my mom's unclaimed money, we had to submit a claim, which we did right through the website. Okay, so right now it's asking me for your last name, your first name, so far so good. I think you know those things. I do know those things. Your home phone.

I'm just gonna put your cell phone. Okay, I'm gonna pause the recording right now because I'm gonna ask for your social security number. because I'm gonna ask for your social security number. Alright, address... how did you hear about us? My daughter. The next page is electronic signature and preview your claim. By clicking the agree button below I certify the following. I am the person whose name I keyed in. Kind of. All the information I have keyed in. So much overlap DNA.

There's a lot of overlap. All the information I have keyed in is true and accurate. Okay. Yeah. So check if you agree to the above conditions. Check. Okay. You should have gotten an email. Please hold while I shift on over. Check. Okay, you should have gotten an email.

Please hold while I shift on over. Okay. So the email we were waiting for would tell her what the next step was to get the money that she was owed, and how much money she was owed. Do do do do refresh refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh. And then after maybe two minutes, she got the email. Claim with mains on Claim Property Program. Our goal is to reunite funds. And it feels so good.

Please keep the summary for your records. Okay. And here it is. And that would be $25.61. Woo! How do you feel? I feel like now I can get like maybe Dan Dan Noodle takeout and that feels great.

Yay! For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank, do as our amazing producer did, and as I said, go to unclaimed.org right now. That is honestly the best place to start to try and find some of your buried treasure. And that's it for today's episode. I'll see you here tomorrow for some more Money Rehab. But in the meantime, don't do anything with your money I wouldn't do, even if you find

more of it tonight. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan LeVoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some Money Rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have

your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at MoneyNews and TikTok at MoneyNews Network for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.