Running tally since 11 April 2026
Unclaimed money, pointed out to the people and organisations it belongs to
A$4 billion+listed in public unclaimed property registers, across the notifications I have sent
What this number is, and what it is not
It is the value that public government registers listed for the records I wrote about, at the time I wrote. It is not money I recovered, and it is not a promise that every dollar will reach its owner. Owners search the official register themselves and recover their own money directly.
My role is advisory only. I take no fee and no commission, and I cannot check anyone's account or act for them.
Where the value sits
Most of the total is customer refunds that insurers, energy companies and telecoms reported to California and Texas.
Premium refunds, overpayments and unpaid policy proceeds in California and Texas.
Public offices asked to help reach the people they hold money for.
Companies told about money sitting under their own names.
Bodies that can pass the message to thousands of members.
People and estates notified directly.
Companies I have written to directly
Each was told what the public registers list in connection with its own name or customers, and asked to pass the message on. The figures are what the registers showed on the day I wrote.
Industries I have pitched to the media, with the companies whose customers hold the refunds: energy (PG&E, Southern California Edison, SDG&E, SoCalGas, Oncor, CenterPoint, TXU Energy, Reliant and others), telecom and cable (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Charter/Spectrum, T-Mobile, Frontier, Cox) and insurance in California and Texas. Being named here means customers of that company appear in the registers. It does not mean the company did anything wrong, and the money belongs to the customers.
Not in the dollar total: safe deposit boxes
About 157,000 boxes with no dollar value attached
California's register lists about 157,000 properties that are the physical contents of old safe deposit boxes, held for owners no one has found. The register records no dollar value for them, so they add nothing to the tally above. The contents could be jewellery, coins, documents or family heirlooms.
Roughly 59% of the owner records trace back to four banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase (including the former Washington Mutual) and Citibank. In August 2026 I asked the California State Controller what a zero balance on these records means and what is done to find the owners. I am not alleging any failure by anyone. Banks are required to hand these over, and I am asking how owners get found afterwards.
Californians who ever rented a box can search their name on the official register and look for "safe deposit" or "contents" in the property type.
How it works
I look
I search public government registers in the US and Australia for money waiting for its owner.
I tell
I contact the owner, or one organisation that can reach thousands of owners at once.
They check
The owner searches the official register and recovers their own money, directly and at no cost.
Check your own name
It takes a couple of minutes, and the official registers are free to use. Search every name you have used, plus old addresses and family members who have passed away.
Only ever use the official government register. Never pay anyone to search for you or to release your money.
How the tally is counted
- It covers the 49 notifications I have sent from 11 April 2026 to 9 October 2026. The 16 years before that are not included.
- Each figure is the amount shown in the register when I wrote, as stated in that message. US dollar amounts are converted to Australian dollars at the rate on the day of sending.
- Where a register shows only a range or no amount (New York, Illinois and some California records), nothing is counted.
- Where two notifications covered the same pool of records, the pool is counted once. The headline is rounded down.
- Balances change daily as owners recover their money, so these are figures at a point in time, not an audited ledger.
Updated 9 October 2026. I am Rich Williams, a retired nurse in regional New South Wales, known as The Free Billion Dollar Man. Questions or corrections: freebilliondollarman@gmail.com