ASIC today launched a national campaign to help re-unite Australians with their lost money. ASIC’s database of unclaimed money has risen to a record $677 million, an increase of more than $40 million from 2011.

Last year Australians recovered $56 million. This year 33,022 parcels of money have been added to the database and are awaiting collection.

There are parcels of unclaimed money waiting to be recovered in all regions of Australia including $992,750 from a dormant bank account in Carlisle, WA, $195,268 from a deregistered company in Gilston, QLD and $286,165 from a matured life insurance policy in Camberwell, VIC.

ASIC Commissioner, Peter Kell says, ‘You might not know it yet, but you could have thousands of dollars sitting in an old bank account, shares, or a life insurance policy.’

Go to ASIC’s MoneySmart website to find out. Click on the link to unclaimed money and type in your name. You can even search for family and friends. It’s quick, easy and free. We encourage you to share it on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #findmoney. There are huge amounts waiting to be claimed.

‘Until you look, you’ll never know if you or your family have unclaimed money. But if you don’t strike it lucky, remember MoneySmart has other tools to help you save money, such as the budget planner,

compound interest calculator

and mortgage switching tools’ Mr Kell says.

You may have unclaimed money if you:

• moved without leaving a forwarding address;

• haven’t made a transaction on your cheque or savings account for over seven years;

• stopped making payments on a life insurance policy;

• have noticed that regular dividend or interest cheques have stopped coming; or

• were executor of a deceased estate.

How to find unclaimed money

Log onto ASIC’s free online database at www.moneysmart.gov.au, follow the link to unclaimed money, and type in your name.

If you find some money that you think might be yours, you will need to prove the money belongs to you or that you are the beneficiary. Information on how to make a claim is also available on the MoneySmart website.

New South Wales has the most unclaimed money, followed by Victoria and overseas accounts. Aside from overseas records, WA has the highest average amount of unclaimed money. The state-by-state breakdown is as follows:

The largest parcels of unclaimed money per state are:

Contact:

Kate Rolfe, Communications Advisor, ASIC, 02 9911 2789, kate.rolfe@asic.gov.au

Additional spokesperson:

Robert Drake, Senior Executive at ASIC’s MoneySmart.