Foreclosure can be a devastating experience. But for some homeowners, there is one rainbow at the end of the storm: They might get a little cash.In many states, if a bidder offers more than is necessary to pay off the defaulted debt during a foreclosure auction, the former owner gets the excess cash.

However, officials often have a difficult time locating former owners.Find the best mortgage ratesBankrate can help you find the lowest available mortgage rate."Most (foreclosed owners) don't leave a forwarding address, and many people leave at the first sign of foreclosure and they're long gone from their last known address," says Dorothy Brown, circuit court clerk in Cook County, Ill.Such instances of owed cash remain relatively rare. Last year, about 80 percent to 90 percent of foreclosed homes being auctioned were taken back by the bank, according to Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac. [Read the full article]

Once a month, just after midnight, the beeping checkout scanners at a Walmart just off Interstate 95 come alive in a chorus of financial desperation.Here and at grocery stores across the country, the chimes come just after food stamps and other monthly government benefits drop into the accounts of shoppers who have been rationing things like milk, ground beef and toilet paper and can finally stock up again.Shoppers mill around the store after 11 p.m., killing time until their accounts are replenished. When midnight strikes, they rush for the checkout counter. [Read the full article]