Stimulus Checks: How to Find and Claim Your Unclaimed Money If the Payments Are Not Enough

In light of Donald Trump's executive order and all the updates via Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, lawmakers are finally putting together a second stimulus package amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But will it be enough for millions of Americans? The previous stimulus package — also known as the CARES Act — entitled eligible Americans to a one-time check of $1,200 to help get them through this difficult time. Republicans proposed their own plan, the HEALS Act, which would grant Americans an additional, one-time check of $1,200. For many Americans, these payments are not enough to get them through one of the worst economic crises of this nation's history. So, if you need extra funds, you may want to check out whether your family is entitled to money that previously went unclaimed.

What exactly are unclaimed funds? They are accounts in financial institutions or companies that have had no activity or contact with the owner for a year or longer, and they are most commonly in savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends, security deposits, IRS refunds, and more. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) has said that there are billions in unclaimed funds floating around the United States.

According to the Today Show, there are a couple of different avenues that you can take if you want to search for any of your potential unclaimed funds. You can do a free search on a site such as MissingMoney.com or Unclaimed.org, both of which are endorsed by NAUPA. In addition to searching on those two sites, you can also turn to the treasury website for the state that you currently live in and any others that you have resided in the past to see if you have unclaimed funds.

Of course, if you need more funds, the government will supposedly be sending out an additional stimulus payment sometime in the near future. While the Republicans' HEALS Act provides for an additional $1,200 check for eligible Americans, the plan is not official just yet. So, it's possible that Americans could receive even more than that total for their next economic impact payment. President Donald Trump has even said in the past that he supports sending out larger payments than those that were given out under the CARES Act.

In late July, during his appearance in West Texas, Trump said that he wants the next stimulus package to provide even larger payments to citizens. "I'd like to see it be very high because I love the people, I want the people to get it, you know, the economy is going to come back," he told news station KMID on Wednesday. "We saved millions of lives but now we're bringing (the economy) back … we gotta take care of the people in the meantime."