Escheatment: the $70bn we forgot about

Published October 22, 2026

Escheatment: the $70bn we've all forgotten about

You’ve likely heard about the 2B in unused gift cards that Starbucks is earning interest from, but you may not know about the 70B that state governments are holding for us because of money we’ve probably forgotten about. Let’s talk about escheatment.

If someone has ever tried sending you a check but you had moved, or a payroll missed your account, or you had a bond that you never checked in on, or a visa gift card you never finished using or even a bank account you’ve forgotten about, all of these could have been escheated to the state. Once it is considered “abandoned”, the money is given to the state government to hold for you until you claim it. While that money is waiting for you with the state it is funding our parks, our school districts, and our mayor’s salary.

NPR ran a story of a man who bought Amazon stock on E*Trade in 1997. When he logs in 20 years later, the stock is gone. Because his account had gone “dormant", etrade liquidated the stock in 2006, and sent it to Delaware state as part of escheatment. Thus, causing him to miss the generational run that Amazon was on!

Generally, all financial institutions get fined if they don’t report these “abandoned” funds so the government always has this steady source of unclaimed funds that are essentially being loaned to them. So if you hate your governor, or you’ve been looking for $500, check out missingmoney.com: the official government website for finding out how much of that 70B has your name written all over it.

Escheatment: the $70bn we've all forgotten about

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