Brian Meiggs

Who I am

I'm Brian Meiggs. I started writing about personal finance back in 2017 and never really stopped. Today I'm the owner of MeiggsMedia, a portfolio of personal finance websites I've built up over the past 8+ years. Strata.org is one of them.

The thread that runs through everything I write is the same: there's money out there that belongs to regular people, and most of them don't know it exists. Class-action settlements. Forgotten 401(k)s. Uncashed paychecks. Old utility deposits. Recalled products that came with refund offers nobody remembered. The amounts are usually small. Sometimes they aren't. Either way, it's yours.

Strata is where I focus that work specifically on state-held unclaimed property. Every state in the country runs an unclaimed money program. Combined, they're holding over $73 billion. About 1 in 7 Americans has something sitting in one of those databases. The hard part isn't claiming it. The hard part is knowing it's there.

What I cover on Strata

Strata is a state-by-state guide to unclaimed property programs. I've written a guide for every US state explaining:

• How to search the official state database (in 30 seconds, free, no fee)
• How to claim what you find (the documents you need, how long it takes, common mistakes)
• The state-specific quirks that trip people up (California auctions safe deposit boxes, Texas allows phone claims under $250, Indiana runs the program through the Attorney General not the Treasurer, etc.)
• What counts as unclaimed property (usually broader than people think)
• What to do if your relative passed away and might've had an account in another state

Every guide gets verified against the official state source and updated regularly. If a treasurer URL changes, I fix it. If a state's program totals jump, I update it. The goal is that what you read here is the same thing I'd tell my own family if they asked.

Why I built Strata

The state databases exist. They're free. They've been there for decades. But they're scattered across 50 different websites, each with its own search format, its own dormancy rules, its own "what counts" definitions. A person trying to figure out if they're owed money has to learn 50 different systems.

That's a search problem. Strata is the answer to that search problem. One site, every state, plain explanations, real treasurer links, no fluff. The premium search runs all 50 states plus federal databases at once for people who don't want to click through each one.

Beyond that, I stay out of the way. I'm not an attorney. I'm not a finder service. I don't take a cut of your claim. The state pays you directly. I just make it easier to figure out where to look.

How Strata makes money

Two ways. First, the premium multi-state search is $1.99 (or free if you sign up for a partner offer). Second, some content includes affiliate links to apps and services I think readers will find useful. When you sign up through one of those links I get a small kickback. The price you pay doesn't change.

I never recommend something I haven't personally vetted. If a partner stops being good, I drop them. The list of partners shifts over time and that's by design.