Read This and See If You Have Some Money Coming

This is very cool. I entered my name and found that I have money coming from an unclaimed utility deposit refund! If the state owes you money that you had coming from death benefits, you can thank State Treasurer John Kennedy. The Louisiana Department of the Treasury has uncovered nearly $45 million in death benefits owed to Louisiana residents.

Kennedy explains how the discovery came about:

"This is why we look at insurance companies' records. We always find policies that should have been paid but weren't because families didn't know the policies existed. We've received an additional $10 million in death benefits since September," Sometimes we uncover $5,000 that should have been paid to a family. Other times, we uncover a lot more than that."

It seems the State Treasury conducts annual audits with the help of  Versus Financial LLC to compare outstanding policies to the Social Security Death Master File (DMF). These audits reveal instances in which insurance companies failed to locate beneficiaries or heirs and pay them. The treasury has been conducting the audits since 2009.

According to Kennedy, "All of the money goes into our Unclaimed Property Program, where it remains until you claim it,"

Check to see if you have unclaimed money online by clicking HERE or call the treasury's toll-free hotline 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday at 1-888-925-4127.