LEWISBURG — State Treasurer Riley Moore presented an unclaimed property check valued at more than $31,000 to the Greenbrier County Commission, funds local officials say will be used to boost the county’s finances.
Moore presented the check worth $31,508.99 to Commissioners Tammy Tincher, Blaine Phillips and Lowell Rose at the Greenbrier County Courthouse in Lewisburg on Thursday morning.
“It’s an honor to be able to work with local officials across our state to return any public funds that might have gone unclaimed over the years,” Moore said. “This is ultimately the taxpayers’ money and we want to make sure it is returned and put back to good use for the people.”
Commission President Tincher encouraged all counties and municipalities to search the Treasurer’s online database to see if the Office has any funds for them.
“We are excited to put these funds towards our operating general fund account for use by the county, as they have not been previously budgeted,” Commission President Tincher said.
“Going through the claims process online was seamless, and I hope every county and municipality reaches out to the State Treasurer’s Office to search and claim any of their funds that might be held as unclaimed property.”
Moore’s Unclaimed Property Division has been returning funds at a record pace – already achieving a state record of more than $20 million returned so far this fiscal year. But there is still more available to be claimed.
Moore said his Office has more than $300 million in unclaimed property listings for individuals, businesses and other organizations. He encourages everyone to visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.com to search and see if they have any money available to claim.
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.
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.
