Unclaimed funds in NY: $123 million is owed to Staten Islanders; is any of the free money yours?

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — You may not need to search those couch cushions for loose change anymore.

New York State has more than $18.4 billion that it owes to its residents, including $123,275,672 to Staten Islanders. (For a region-by-region breakdown, you can click here.)

Money can go unclaimed for various reasons. Banks often lose track of people who move, so their accounts go dormant, or people themselves forget that they have a bank account or brokerage account.

The number of accounts unclaimed for Staten Island are 207,712.

According to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office, $41,846,811 in unclaimed funds have been returned to New Yorkers.

So how do you know if you’re owed any money?

Just visit the state comptroller’s website and type in your first name, last name or organization to check. If the results come up empty, try an advanced search to double-check.

It also is worth searching for the names of relatives, particularly those who are deceased. Officials say you could be entitled to those funds as well with records going back to the 1940s.