More States Join MissingMoney.com

Maine, New Mexico and Massachusetts recently joined MissingMoney.com, a free national search engine that helps people find lost assets and unclaimed property.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators and Checkfree Corp. launched the site last November. People can use it to search for personal assets, including savings accounts, stocks, and paychecks, that may have been lost over time. To use the service, people simply enter their last name and ZIP code to see if any matches are returned.

"States are doing this because it offers them a new paradigm to extend their public outreach," said Mike Meriton, president of MissingMoney. com. "It's part of every state's mission statement to be the perpetual custodians of assets and find their rightful owners."

Maine, New Mexico and Massachusetts bring to 21 the number of states that are participating in the free database. Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia and North Carolina joined last November when the Web site launched. A dozen states' unclaimed property listings can be searched on the site, and the rest will be added as soon as their data is properly collected and formatted.