Money
6 ways to find free money and put it back in your pocket
Money may be out there, just waiting for you to call it back to your wallet. Here’s how to check whether unclaimed cash has your name on it.
By Alex Brooks
Maybe you changed your name. You’ve probably moved house. Switched banks. Lost a cheque (remember them?). Or perhaps you just didn’t know about your entitlements. It happens more often than you think.
I’ve discovered 6 different ways to find lost money that’s owed to you – think of it as free money! Some are as easy as doing an online search while others require a bit of form-filling.
Yes, there are private companies who promise they can search for your lost money for a fee. However, this story shows you just how easy it is to do it yourself online through ASIC and other government-funded services, any time – and it costs nothing!
Dive in to see if you have a payday coming …
Free money tip #1: Check for unclaimed bank or super accounts
If an Australian bank account has been untouched for 7 years, the government will seize it – not to spend your money but to stop the fees from eating it away. To get the money back, you just have to ask for it.
The government says close to $2 billion is lost in shares, bank accounts and life insurance. That’s a lot of dosh, right?
The easiest way to check if it’s yours is to do a Moneysmart unclaimed money search.
This can be a cinch if your name matches the ASIC records, but if you’ve changed your name, it can be a little harder and you might need to email unclaimed.money@asic.gov.au or call them on 1300 200 630 to ask what to do.
You can also claim the interest on old and untouched money, but there are rules as to how this is calculated (which are complicated).
To avoid losing bank accounts in the future, you can make a small deposit (even 5 cents) from time to time, and always update the bank with a new email, address or phone number if you move.
You can also use information on the Australian Tax Office website to find lost superannuation accounts.
Free money tip #2: Check whether your state government has money waiting for you
State governments sometimes end up with your unclaimed or lost money, too. Sometimes it’s from unpaid wages or a long lost friend or relative might have left you something in a deceased estate.
You usually need 2 things to do this check: identity documents and proof of your connection to the money. You’ll also need patience to follow through with the claim, which can be bureaucratic and time consuming. The links below describe the process for each Australian state or territory.
- Read how the Australian Capital Territory Treasury and Northern Territory Government handle unclaimed money processes
- Understand the Revenue NSW unclaimed money search tool and process
- Find out what unclaimed money the Queensland Government holds and how to get it back
- Search South Australian Government unclaimed money
- Discover how the Tasmanian Government administers refunds for unclaimed money
- Search the Victorian Government unclaimed money register
- Search Western Australia’s $170m of unclaimed money
Free money tip #3: Check whether you forgot to claim any Medicare benefits
There’s more than $247m in unclaimed Medicare benefits waiting to be returned to people who need to update their bank account details.
Make sure your bank details are registered with Medicare and that they’re up to date in your MyGov account (you should create a MyGov account if you don’t already have one), click on the link to Medicare, then look for a notification asking you to update your bank details.
You’ll need to make sure you include the BSB, account number and account name for Medicare.
Read more on Services Australia about how to get Medicare benefits paid to you. (Oh, and don’t forget to check Citro’s 6 awesome cards and concessions that all older Aussies should apply for.)
Free money tip #4: Check whether you are owed a refund for junk add-on insurance
Financial companies who sold loans, credit cards and insurance before the 2018 banking royal commission sometimes also sold what was called ‘junk insurance’ to the tune of up to $10 billion.
These were usually dud policies that charged you each and every month and sometimes also charged interest. If you bought one of these, you are entitled to a refund. But you need to act before June 2025 to get it!
To check if you are eligible for a refund, you may need to go through your original loan or credit card documentation (totally tedious!) or check through old credit card or bank statements to see if you’re paying some regular once-a-month fee (you’ll need to ask your bank or insurer what the fee is and check whether it’s insurance or not).
Checking the Consumer Action Law Centre “demand a refund” tool can be a good first step to see if you are affected.
Read the Australian Financial Complaints Authority fact sheet about what you need to do to get a junk insurance refund – it’s not always straightforward! Some big financial institutions are involved in class actions, which would automatically enrol you if you were affected.
For a faster (but not free) check, you can engage services like Remediator or Claimo.
Free money tip #5: Find any old shares or investments held by the government regulator
Once upon a time, in a world long ago, friendly mutual societies dissolved and reformed as companies limited by shares – but it sometimes gave (or allowed customers to buy) these shares.
Even government-owned organisations like Telstra issued shares to its customers when it privatised.
If you were busy with young kids or living life in the full bloom of youth ignoring the 200-page documents and finer details of these offers, you might have lost track of whether you even own any.
Or, you might have just been a paperwork idiot (like me when I lost my Telstra shares!). Read this list of companies with unclaimed shares to see if they ring a bell for you so you can start a claim.
Old shares and investments can be complicated if you don’t have what’s called the original transaction number and you may need to fill in an ownership claim statutory declaration form or read the detailed ASIC guidance.
You can find out more about the way these share-issuing situations worked by looking on the Australian Tax Office website or reading more on the Reserve Bank website.
Free money tip #6: Does Facebook owe you a slice of $50m?
If you’re one of the 311,000 Aussies that had a Facebook account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015 and installed the This Is Your Digital Life app – or had a friend who did – then you might be entitled to a slice of a $50m bonanza the Australian Government has secured.
To check if you’re eligible, visit this help page in Facebook to find out if you installed the app and were affected.
You might remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal – the shonky company raped and pillaged Facebook data to influence voters in elections and unlawfully scrape personal information.
The Australian Government held Facebook’s parent company Meta to account and has secured the $50m sum to distribute to affected people.
If you just want recognition for the privacy breach, you’ll get a base payment. But if you can prove financial loss or personal damage, you could claim more.
A third-party administrator (appointed by Meta) will publicly announce the application process some time between March and June in 2025. They’ll also take “reasonable steps” to spread the word — though, let’s be real, they’ll probably just post it on Facebook.
Payouts are supposed to be made promptly, but Meta is only required to make its “best efforts” to notify those affected. Translation? Don’t wait for them to find you. Keep an eye out for announcements.
Feature image: iStock/Steve Luker
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