WV Press Release Sharing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – State Treasurer Riley Moore has announced his office returned more than $3.6 million worth of unclaimed property to individuals, businesses and organizations during the month of May – continuing a record-setting pace for returns this fiscal year.
“We’re proud to be returning money to our citizens at the fastest pace in state history,” Treasurer Moore said. “This is the people’s money and we’re continuing to work aggressively to get the word out for people to search for and claim their funds today.”
The Office’s Unclaimed Property Division processed $3,609,585 worth of payments during the month of May, pushing the cumulative total for funds processed this fiscal year – which ends June 30 – to more than $24.3 million. That already far exceeds the record $18.6 million returned by the Office during the last fiscal year.
“We’ve already returned over $5 million more than we returned during last year’s record-breaking year and we still have the rest of this month to go,” Treasurer Moore said. “This is a testament to the hard work our staff has been doing to find new and innovative ways to get the word out about this program.”
The Office has ramped up its digital marketing efforts over the past year to help raise awareness of the program with online audiences. It also recently debuted a simplified website name, www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com, to help people find the database. The mobile version of that website was also updated with a new SMS text feature that allows users to forward unclaimed property listings to family and friends if they see their names listed.
The State Treasurer’s Office still has more than $300 million in unclaimed property listings for individuals, businesses and other organizations in its database.
Treasurer Moore encourages everyone to visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com to search and see if they have any money available to claim.
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.