Here’s How to Check If You’re Owed Money in New York

New York is sitting on a $20 billion pot of unclaimed money, and some of it might be yours. Here’s how to see if you’re on the list.

Chris Bragg   ·   June 18, 2025
Albany Capitol superimposed over 100 dollar bill money printer
| Illustration: Maia Hibbett

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There’s a good chance that the New York State Comptroller is holding onto your money.

The comptroller’s office manages a giant pot of funds — about $20 billion — that businesses turned over to the state from sources like dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, and unreturned security deposits. As I recently reported, New York state has essentially borrowed most of this money — and spent it.

But it’s very easy to see if a part of the $20 billion is yours. First, search your name on this website: https://www.osc.ny.gov/unclaimed-funds.

After the search, a list of names and addresses pops up. If you see your name and an address with which you’ve been associated — congratulations! You have money waiting for you.

The next steps usually include a relatively brief confirmation process, including entering your Social Security number. More complex verifications, such as those involving estates, can be considerably more work.

You may also be owed money in other states. There’s a national database where you can check: https://unclaimed.org.

You can check on behalf of your friends and family, too! An editor on this story found money waiting for half a dozen people he knows after a short stretch of searching.

I claimed lost funds through the comptroller’s website myself several years ago. When I checked again while reporting this story, two new claims in my name popped up — one tied to an address in Queens I lived at a decade ago, the other to an old address of mine in Albany.

For these simple claims, the verification process took just a couple of minutes. I attested that I was the correct recipient based on the addresses and entered my Social Security number. The site tells me the claims have already been processed. Checks should be on the way, though I don’t yet know the amounts — fingers crossed.

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Chris Bragg is the Albany bureau chief at New York Focus. He has done investigative reporting on New York government and politics since 2009, most recently at The Buffalo News and Albany Times Union.
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