A couple of months ago, I found myself on the MissingMoney site. It’s a searchable database of abandoned property throughout the US. On a lark, I searched on my name in every state I’ve ever lived and I actually found one item…

…in the state I currently reside in! It turns out that after I moved out of my first Boston apartment and started graduate school across town, I never updated my address with the credit union that was my only bank account (ah the days where I paid my rent with a money order out of my passbook savings account). I guess I left a few dollars in there – literally a few dollars – because when it was turned over to the state in 1995 it was $34.32

It was easy to start my claim and I received paperwork within a couple of weeks. I quickly gathered most of the documentation I needed (W-9 form, documentation of my SSN) but I was missing the final piece: either my passbook or a statement from the abandoned account. Since I “abandoned” this account 14 years ago I really didnt have any of that stuff hanging around.

The treasurer’s office informed me I could use information obtained in a visit to the bank…anything showing my name, old address, account number and amount. This actually took me two trips because I didnt bring enough information with me the first time (like the year it was submitted to the state or the exact amount…duh me) for them to locate me in their paper records.

I have everything now, and it’s all packed up and ready to mail back to the state. Apparently it can take up to 12 weeks to “process” and then a another 30 days to receive a check. 16 weeks to get at my $34 seems pretty ridiculous. Oh well. At least I can check the status of my claim online