Recently, the Lousiana Treasuray returned a record-breaking $904,000 in unclaimed money to citizens in the Greater New Orleans area at their one-day event at Lakeside Shopping Mall. Currently, there is more than $1 billion in Louisiana Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Program, and $300 million is owed to residents in the New Orleans area. Unclaimed property funds come from businesses that turn over millions of dollars in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds, securities, and insurance proceeds to the Louisiana State Treasurer’s office. These funds include payroll checks, old bank accounts, royalties, utility deposits, interest payments, stock certificates, and life insurance proceeds. One in six Louisianans has unclaimed property. One of the main reasons an item becomes unclaimed property is an incorrect or old address. Over the past fifty years, Louisiana’s Unclaimed Property Program has issued 1.38 million unclaimed property checks, totaling $727 million, to the rightful owners.
The National Association Of Unclaimed Property Administrators announced that $4,832,614,233 was returned by states in 2022. Further, they estimate that over 33 million people in the U.S. (nearly 1 in 7) currently have unclaimed property.
A newspaper in the Kansas City metropolitan area recently reported that there is approximately $49.5 billion of unclaimed property in the United States. It stated there the original source of these funds can vary. Often the death of relative is the cause of property going unclaimed. Other causes include accounts that have been abandoned or simply forgotten. Bank accounts, 401(k)s and similar investments where the legal owner is unknown, are often turned over to the State as unclaimed property. Insurance or inheritance payouts are also commonly sent to the these State Treasury accounts until the rightful owner appears to claim them.
The Missouri State Treasurer recently announced that the state is holding $1.4 billion in unclaimed property. He further stated that over the past year, the state has returned a record $53 Million of unclaimed property to rightful owners
A prominent newspaper in the Kansas City metropolitan area recently reported that there were 20,339 individuals or business entities in Jackson County (mostly Kansas City, Missouri) that had lost or abandoned assets held by the State Treasurer. [Note: Jackson County, MO has a population of approximately 703,000. That means that one out of every 34 people (or business entities) in the County have abandoned or unclaimed assets.]
The Kansas State Treasurer recently reported that more than $400 million of unclaimed property has been returned to Kansans in recent years. Additionally, there is still over $500 million waiting to be claimed.
“Helping People Get Paid The Money They Are Owed”
