State Treasurer Riley Moore visited Martinsburg on Tuesday, May 30, to present an unclaimed property check totaling nearly $40,000 to benefit Berkeley Medical Center.
“It was great partnering with Berkeley Medical Center – one of the top healthcare providers in the region – to reunite them with a significant amount of unclaimed funds,” Treasurer Moore said. “Since taking Office, I’ve made modernizing the State Treasurer’s Office one of my top priorities to ensure we are working efficiently to serve the people of our state, and due to our efforts, we are returning unclaimed property funds at the fastest pace in state history.”
Treasurer Moore presented an unclaimed property check worth $39,348.35 to Vice President of Finance Zach Kerns and Vice President of Marketing & Development Teresa McCabe.
“Receiving this unclaimed property check was a great surprise,” Kerns said. “We are beginning to affiliate some of our programs with local technical institutes and nursing schools to increase our staffing and retain talent within the region, and these funds will help support our expansion plans.”
Recently, Treasurer Moore announced that his Office returned $1.6 million worth of unclaimed property to individuals, businesses and organizations during April, pushing fiscal year-to-date returns past $20 million for the first time in state history. His Unclaimed Property Division also launched a new online SMS text feature that allows users to easily share unclaimed property listings with their families and friends.
Treasurer Moore said unclaimed property funds are being turned over to his Unclaimed Property Division every day and his Office has more than $300 million in listings for individuals, businesses and other organizations. He encouraged everyone to visit www.wvtreasury.com and click on the “Search” button to see if the Office is holding any assets in their name.
Pictured left to right: Berkeley Medical Center Vice President of Finance Zach Kerns. Berkeley Medical Center Vice President of Marketing & Development Teresa McCabe, State Treasurer Riley Moore
What is Unclaimed Property?
Unclaimed property can include financial accounts or items of value in which the owner has not initiated any activity for one year or longer. Common examples include unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. (While the title includes the word “property,” it does not however include real estate.)
West Virginia’s unclaimed property laws protect the public by ensuring money and property owed to them is returned to them, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments and other entities. The Treasurer seeks to reunite the unclaimed property, including uncashed paychecks, stocks, or safe deposit box contents, with its owner.
Nationwide, nearly 33 million people in the United States – one in every 10 – are estimated to have unclaimed property available for them to claim.
How Can I Find Unclaimed Property in My Name?
West Virginians searching for lost financial assets can go to www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com to search if their name or business is listed in the database. You can also file a claim or check its status as that website. Individuals can also still visit www.wvtreasury.com, then click on the large Unclaimed Property “Search” button to the right of the page under the heading, “Are We Holding Your Money?,” which will redirect them to the unclaimed property website.
A demonstration of how to use the Unclaimed Property search site is available on the Treasury’s YouTube page, at: https://youtu.be/K09yQ7YNKlE.
To search for lost financial assets outside West Virginia, visit www.MissingMoney.com.