FAQs: Personal Finance

Personal & Business Assistance

Can I get a loan or grant from the Treasury Department?

I am starting a mail order business. Can you send me all of the information I need to get started?

I have been notified that the Treasury Department owes me money or is holding funds (or property) in my name. The letter indicates that I can receive this unclaimed property if I pay a "finders" fee. Can you help?

Can I get a loan or a grant from the Treasury Department?

Contrary to the impression of many people, the Treasury Department generally does not administer any financial assistance, loan, or loan guarantee programs to individuals or businesses. The only source of information we can provide for personal financial assistance is the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. This book provides a detailed listing of Federal assistance programs and the agencies responsible for their administration. It is available in most large public libraries. If you believe you qualify for any of the programs listed therein, you should apply for benefits to the agency or department administering the program at the address shown therein.

In addition, the Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several lending programs for small companies that cannot obtain financing through regular commercial credit sources. Information on the SBA's eligibility criteria and the procedures for applying for a business is available from the local SBA office. This would be listed in your telephone directory under the heading UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

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I am starting a mail order business. Can you send me all of the information I need to get started?

Information about mail order businesses is not available from the Treasury Department. You should directly contact the two agencies having primary responsibility in this area. First, contact the Office of Public Affairs, Federal Trade Commission, Pennsylvania Avenue at Sixth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580. You should also contact the Office of the Assistant Postmaster General, Public and Employee Communications Department, United States Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, D.C. 20260-0010.

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I have been notified that the Treasury Department owes me money or is holding funds (or property) in my name. The letter indicates that I can receive this unclaimed property if I pay a "finders" fee. Can you help?

We receive many requests from people inquiring about the possibility that the Federal government is holding unclaimed government funds due to them. There is no government-wide, centralized information service or database from information on unclaimed government assets may be obtained. Each individual Federal agency maintains its own records and would need to research and release that data on a case-by-case basis. The only unclaimed asset information that would be in the possession of the Department of the Treasury would pertain to outstanding Federal government check issue records or outstanding savings bonds, Treasury bills, Treasury notes or Treasury bonds.

Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) serves as the disbursing agent for most civilian Federal agencies and, as such, offers check issue data retrieval services to those agencies. When the agencies submit check status inquiries, they supply check symbol and number data, as opposed to payee names or other payee identifiers. Once provided with specific check symbols and numbers corresponding to government check payments, the FMS can perform a search that enables them to verify the issuance and status of those checks. Federal check issue and cancellation records cannot be searched in any other manner due to the configuration of their check payment and reconciliation system.

Several companies, or locator services, engaged in the business of identifying and recovering unclaimed assets for profit, acquire Federal check issue data from FMS and various Federal government agencies under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The information requested by these companies pertains to specific check symbols, numbers and dollar amounts identified on Treasury check cancellation listings compiled by FMS. These listings are not searchable by personal identifiers, such as a person's name or social security number. Personal identifiers may, however, exist in Federal agencies' check issue or cancellation records., Using such personal identifiers, if available, these locator services attempt to locate the prospective beneficiaries, or "payees,' for canceled/unpaid government checks and, on their behalf, attempt to collect the payment amounts from the Federal agencies that originally certified the payments. It is important to note that these firms are also involved in recovering unclaimed property in the possession of State and local government entities.

In its role as disbursing agent for Federal program agencies, the FMS cannot issue payments on their behalf until official certification of those payments is received from the respective agencies. In those cases when undeliverable, unnegotiated and/or otherwise unpaid checks are returned to the Treasury disbursing centers, the FMS merely cancels the checks and returns the respective funds to the agencies that originally certified the payments.

For you to determine whether any unclaimed funds are being held by the Federal government, you must determine the type of benefit or payment that could be involved, the date on which the payment was expected, and the manner in which the check should have been drawn. With this information, the agency responsible for certifying any payment due should be able to assist you in determining the current status of any payment involved. The titles and addresses for all Federal agencies are available in The United States Government Manual, which should be available in public libraries. Our research into this question suggests that most of the claims involve FHA mortgages, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. If you are interested in tracing funds that may be due you, this may be a good place to start.

Each year, over 15,000 savings bonds and 25,000 payments return to the Department of the Treasury as undeliverable. In addition, over $9 billion worth of savings bonds have stopped earning interest, but haven't been cashed. The Bureau of Public Debt offers a web-based service that enables citizens to see whether they own savings bonds that were unable to be delivered or are owed money for savings bonds, Treasury bills, Treasury notes, or Treasury bonds. This service is available on the Treasury Hunt website.

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