ARE YOU OWED MONEY?

According to N.C. State Treasurer Dale Folwell, $711 million in unclaimed funds are just waiting to be collected in North Carolina — and some of it may be yours.

Did you know $711 million in unclaimed funds in North Carolina are just waiting to be collected — and that some of it may be yours?

Finding out if you’re owed money is easier than checking under the couch cushions for quarters - and potentially a lot of more profitable.

All you have to do is go to NCCash.com, a website run by the N.C. Department of State Treasurer. and the N.C. State Treasurer Dale Folwell, CPA. Simply enter your last name, first name, city and zip code then click search.

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), unclaimed property consists of bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds, and contents of safe deposit boxes that typically have been abandoned for one to five years. Funds become unclaimed because the company loses track of the consumer due to an incorrect address or other missing information.

By law, these funds are turned over to the Department of State Treasurer for safekeeping. As new funds are added the NC Cash database is updated, so if your name isn’t listed right now it could be in the future.

Here are the BBB’s tips for claiming cash yourself, and for searching in other states you’ve lived in over the years.

1. Go to NCCash.com to search for money in North Carolina.

2. For other states, use MissingMoney.com and Unclaimed.org. Only use these sites – there’s a lot of copy cats out there with sound-alike names.

3. Make sure you check all the places you’ve lived. And if you’re married, make sure to check under your maiden name. Use a first initial and your last name to make sure everything shows up.

4. If you want to use a third-party company to claim your cash, you can. But it is not required. If you do use one of the locator businesses so you don’t have to do any of the paperwork yourself, don’t pay upfront. And don’t pay the company more than 10 to 20 percent of the money you are claiming.

5. Visit the webpage www.usa.gov/unclaimed-money. It will link you to other helpful sites like searches for unclaimed pension money.

Go-To-Glossary

At this point in your life you’ve conquered a lot of your fears. But do you still freeze up when it comes to understanding certain financial terms?

Because you’re not the only one, nationally known financial expert Nicole Lapin has an easy to understand glossary of terms on her website, nicolelapin.com. It covers everything from Asset Allocation to Zombie Debt.

Once you’ve grasped the basics, try investopedia.com for more in-depth definitions under its Dictionary tab. It also has tutorials on topics including stocks, options, and economics.

And just so you’ll be able to sleep tonight, Zombie Debt is a debt that’s so old you’ve forgotten that you owe it, and the company you owe it to may have given up on ever seeing it. But it can come back to haunt you if it ever gets turned over to a debt collector.