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Lost Money Detective

Find money you forgot, lost or never received.

Refunds that never posted. Credits from cancelled trips. Gift cards buried in an inbox from four years ago. Lost Money Detective reviews the evidence you authorize and shows you what may still be recoverable — with the proof behind every item.

Connections are optional and read-only. No promise of results — only what your own records support.

Sample evidence trailSample

Example merchant

Missing refund

$286.42

Sample amount — not user data

  1. Refund promisedMay 4
  2. Expected on Visa •••• 4721Card on file
  3. No matching credit identifiedTransactions reviewed
  4. Needs verificationConfirm with the merchant

Lost Money Detective compares authorized evidence with transaction history and shows why an item was flagged.

How Lost Money Detective works

Three steps, each of which you control. Nothing is connected until you say so.

Step 1

Connect a mailbox

Read-only access to the email history where receipts, refund notices and gift cards already live.

Step 2

Optionally connect accounts

Through Plaid, share transaction history only, so promised refunds can be checked against credits that actually posted.

Step 3

See what was never used

Each item is classified, dated and backed by an evidence timeline — with a clear status, not a guess.

The kinds of forgotten money it looks for

Results depend on what exists in your own records. Some people find several items; others find none.

Missing refunds

Promised, but never posted to your card.

Airline & travel credits

eCredits and vouchers from cancelled trips.

Gift cards

Emailed years ago and only partly spent.

Store & merchandise credit

Issued after a return and forgotten.

Rewards & certificates

Loyalty awards and free-night certificates that expire.

Unclaimed property

Official state and federal programs, free to search.

Why you would connect a financial account

An email can say a refund is on its way. Only your transaction history can show whether it ever arrived. Connecting an eligible bank or card account lets Lost Money Detective close out the money that already landed and flag the money that did not.

This is optional. You can use the product with email alone — you just won’t get reconciliation.

How the Plaid connection works

  • You sign in with your bank, not with us. Plaid Link handles the institution sign-in. We never see or store your banking username or password.
  • Only what the check needs. Essential account metadata and transaction history — used solely to reconcile promised value against credits that actually posted. No balances, identity, income or investment data are requested.
  • No payment ability. The app cannot move money, initiate transfers, or change anything at your institution.
  • You can disconnect at any time, which revokes access and removes the imported transaction data.

Plaid Inc. is an independent company; its handling of your data is governed by Plaid’s End User Privacy Policy. Bank connections are available only where the operator of this deployment has configured live credentials; the app states this plainly on the connection screen.

Read-only by design

Email is accessed with read scopes; financial data is limited to transactions. No ability to send or pay.

Minimum necessary storage

We keep the structured facts behind a finding and a short evidence snippet, not your mailbox. Snippet retention is yours to set.

Disconnect and delete

Revoke a connection or delete your data at any time, in the app or by written request.

See what your own records have been holding.

Start with a mailbox. Add a financial account only if and when it makes sense for you.