About
Helping Australians work out
where their lost money might be.
Find Lost Money Australia is an independent information service that helps Australians work out which official unclaimed-money registers may apply to their situation and gives them a personalised plan for searching them.
Find Lost Money Australia is an independent information service, not a government agency. We don’t hold unclaimed funds, process claims or charge fees. We help you work out which official Australian Government registers apply to your situation, then link you to them directly.
Build My Search PlanWhy we built this
Australia has no single unclaimed money search. Each state and territory runs its own register, and national bodies like ASIC, the ATO, Fair Work and AFSA run several more. Most people never check them all, plenty don’t know they exist, and a plain list of links doesn’t tell you which ones matter for you.
Find Lost Money Australia exists to close that gap. Our free “Where Should I Search?” tool asks six short questions and turns the answers into a personalised Search Plan: the official registers that apply to you, why each one is on your list, the names to try, the documents you may need and what to do when nothing comes up. Our guides go deeper on each type of money, and every link goes straight to the official government page.
What we do
- A free “Where Should I Search?” tool that asks six short questions and builds a personalised Search Plan
- Working out which official registers apply to your situation, and which ones you can skip
- Step-by-step guides for each type of money: bank accounts, super, wages, bonds, estates and more
- Which names and previous details to search under, including maiden names and old addresses
- Direct links to the official government search and claim pages
- What documents you may need before you lodge a claim
- Plain-language scam prevention, so you can tell a real register from a con
What we are not
- We do not hold any unclaimed money
- We do not process, lodge or speed up claims
- We do not charge fees or take a commission
- We are not a government agency and are not affiliated with any register we link to
We never see the results of your searches. Your Search Plan answers stay in your own browser and are not sent to us. You should not need to pay anyone to recover unclaimed money in Australia: if a service offers to find your money for a percentage, everything it will do is something you can do yourself for free through the official registers.
What we stand for
Official sources only
Every register we link to is run by an Australian government agency or regulator. We do not send you to paid middlemen.
Free to use
Our search guide, guides and links are free. Searching and claiming through the official registers is free too, and we never take a fee or a percentage.
Personal, not generic
Unclaimed money is scattered across dozens of registers. We work out which ones apply to your situation instead of handing you the whole list.
No pressure, no data
We don't hold your money, we don't handle your claim, and we never ask for bank details, tax file numbers or identity documents.
How it works
Plan
Answer six quick questions to build a personalised Search Plan showing which official registers apply to you.
Search
Work through each register in your plan, trying every name you have used, and track your progress as you go.
Claim
Follow the official claim process on the government website. Your plan lists the documents you are likely to need.
How to use the official government searches
Every register we link to is run by an Australian government agency or regulator, and searching them is free. Work through these steps in order so you don’t miss anything.
- 1
Build your personalised Search Plan
Answer six quick questions about the type of money, where you have lived and worked, and who you are searching for. Your plan lists the official registers that apply to you and skips the ones that don't.
- 2
Work through the state and national registers
State and territory registers hold money connected to that state, so search every state you have lived in. ASIC's MoneySmart covers bank accounts, life insurance and shares; the ATO holds lost super; Fair Work holds unpaid wages; AFSA holds money from bankruptcies.
- 3
Search every name you have used
Try maiden names, married names, shortened first names, middle-name variations and common misspellings. Records are stored exactly as the institution recorded them.
- 4
Gather your proof before claiming
Most agencies ask for photo ID, proof of your link to the old address or account, and for estates, proof you are the executor or next of kin.
- 5
Lodge the claim on the official website
Follow the claim form on the government page itself. The official registers we link to do not charge to lodge a claim, and most Australian unclaimed money registers hold balances until the owner or their estate claims them. A few specific schemes do set time limits, so check the wording on the register itself.
- 6
Re-check once a year
Registers are updated as institutions transfer new unclaimed amounts, so a nil result today doesn't mean a nil result next year.
You never have to pay to search or claim. If a private “recovery agent” asks for a percentage or your bank login, stop. The same claim can be lodged yourself, free, on the official site.
How we research and check this site
Every register, form and phone number on this site is taken from the agency that runs it, never from a third party summary. Before a page goes live we open each official link, confirm it still lands on the right search or claim page, and note the date we checked. Pages carry a “last reviewed” date so you can see how current they are, and we re-check the state and national registers on a regular schedule because government sites move their pages often.
We do not hold unclaimed money, lodge claims, or charge for anything. If we get something wrong, tell us and we will fix it and update the review date on that page.
Read our editorial policyNot sure which register applies to you?
Build your free Search Plan, or go straight to the national registers.