Treasury sets mark with $17.7 million fiscal year

Making official a milestone met in late April, State Treasurer John Perdue’s office has confirmed the $17.7 million returned to rightful owners and custodians in fiscal 2018 is an all-time high for the Unclaimed Property program.

The Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division had already returned $15.9 million as of April 30, smashing the previous fiscal year claim record by more than $600,000. The fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.

Unclaimed property is any financial asset from which an individual has become separated, such as a forgotten utility deposit or final paycheck. The Treasurer’s Office works to reunite those persons with their money through its Unclaimed Property Division.

The record-setting year eclipsed 2009’s $15.4 million total and 2011’s $14.9 million. To search the Treasurer’s Office unclaimed property database go to www.wvtreasury.com.

“We keep raising the bar of unclaimed property returned,” Treasurer Perdue said. “It’s a testament to the hard work of this office and our proactive approach to returning the people’s money. We’ll keep doing whatever we can to reunite people with what they have lost.” 

The $17,657,253 returned approached nearly 50 percent of all money for FY 2018 reported to the Treasury by unclaimed property holders. Holders include insurance companies, banks, utility firms and any other entity holding someone else’s assets.

Assets returned in FY 2018 involved 12,007 claims and 36,988 properties. A “property” is a single asset, such as a forgotten utility deposit. Several properties could be covered under a single claim. Unclaimed property has nothing to do with real estate.

West Virginia residents in all 55 counties were reunited in fiscal 2018 with a cumulative $10.2 million, leaving approximately $7.4 million disbursed to out-

Small, north-central Doddridge County led all West Virginia counties in dollar amount returned with $1.8 million on 22 claims.

The rest of the top 10 counties, in amounts returned to residents include:

• Kanawha – $1.7 million
• Taylor – $541,477
• Monongalia – $527,818
• Harrison – $368,778
• Cabell – $368,708
• Berkeley – $361,222
• Fayette – $356,796
• Wood – $310,580
• Mercer – $279,244 

 
Attached to this release is a complete county-by-county breakdown of FY 2018 claims in West Virginia.

Treasurer Perdue has spent a considerable part of the last six years in litigation with life insurance companies, asking them to either pay out proceeds, or if beneficiaries can’t be located, turn the money over to Unclaimed Property.

Fiscal 2018 proved a breakthrough year in that area. The Unclaimed Property Division returned to beneficiaries $1.1 million, which is roughly 27 percent of the $4.1 million in insurance proceeds ever paid out in West Virginia.

Seventy-eight percent of that $4.1 million has been paid since Treasurer Perdue began litigation.

“Our residents are just beginning to reap the benefits of insurance reporting,” the Treasurer said. “We intend to make this a continued area of emphasis as we press forward.”

The numbers below show the slow but steady pace of life insurance proceeds reporting:

• 2012 – 20 claims, $24,286 returned
• 2013 – 25 claims, $78,220 returned
• 2014 – 62 claims, $177,854 returned
• 2015 – 87 claims, $415,443 returned
• 2016 – 192 claims, $627,236 returned
• 2017 – 233 claims, $832,195 returned
• 2018 – 379 claims, $1.1 million returned

 
For more information on the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property program, visit wvtreasury.com.

County-by-County Totals