State Treasurer Riley Moore today announced his Office’s Unclaimed Property Division returned more than $1.5 million worth of unclaimed property to individuals, businesses and organizations during the month of November.
“We’ve continued to aggressively promote our unclaimed property program across the state and our efforts are yielding results for our citizens,” Treasurer Moore said. “We’re proud to continue returning lost funds to people at the fastest pace in state history.”
The Unclaimed Property Division paid out $1,550,500 through 1,226 claims during the month. Since the fiscal year began July 1, the Office has paid out more than $10.4 million in unclaimed property claims – already ahead of the pace at this point for last fiscal year, which set a record of $26.8 million returned during that fiscal year.
The Treasurer’s Office has more than $400 million worth of unclaimed property listings in its database available for claim.
The Office is continuing to find new ways to educate the public about the program and encourage people to search its database for lost funds.
Last month, Treasurer Moore announced a new partnership with the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles that will promote the Treasurer’s Office’s unclaimed property program at DMV locations statewide and encourage DMV customers to search the unclaimed property online database while they wait.
For more information about the unclaimed property program, or to search if the Office is holding anything for you, visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov.
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.gov. In addition to finding property, the website will also help you track a claim.
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.