Crosby Finance

Philly cheese steaks, chocolates, soft pretzels and TastyKakes aren’t the only nice things you can find in Pennsylvania. There’s also the Liberty Bell, Christmas trees (Indiana County is the Christmas Tree capital of the world), steel of course, and…..nice piles of cold hard cash. Well, cash from Pennsylvania unclaimed money that is. That’s right- around $1 billion in unclaimed money is with the Pennsylvania State Treasurer’s office and it’s just waiting to be claimed by its rightful owners.

Owners of PA unclaimed properties are residents (or former residents) of the state who may have either forgotten about or lost track of their financial assets by changing addresses and jobs. People sometimes forget to leave behind a forwarding address when they move and this ultimately results in undelivered mail which may contain tax refund checks and the like. Escheat laws dictate that lost financial assets be turned over in the care of the state after a certain number of years wherein they go unclaimed.

According to the Pennsylvania State Treasurer’s Office, “Each year, Treasury receives millions of dollars in unclaimed property from abandoned bank accounts, forgotten stocks, checks that have not been cashed, certificates of deposit, life insurance policies, safe deposit boxes, and other sources.

Treasury maintains custody of this unclaimed property, holding assets indefinitely, until it is returned to its rightful owners. ” Lost assets can also come from expired gift certificates, money orders, traveler’s checks, safe- deposit box contents, and uncollected or unpaid salaries and wages. In fact, $157,290 of the latter was reported to have been owed by the H.J. Heinz company recently and failed to report this to the State. Under the Pennsylvania Unclaimed Property Law, unpaid payroll checks held by businesses have to be remitted to the State Treasurer’s office every two years and every 5 years for unclaimed assets like uncashed company checks and stock shares abandoned by shareholders. State Treasurer Robert Casey said in a statement, “By law, all businesses, financial institutions and legal entities must report and return all unclaimed property to the Commonwealth.”

The Pennsylvania Unclaimed Property Division and the Treasurer tries to inform owners of unclaimed money in Pennsylvania through letters, state-run unclaimed money databases, and advertising campaigns. “Annual advertising and letter campaigns are just some of the methods Treasury employs to seek the owners of over $1 billion in unclaimed property. Treasury sends representatives to statewide public events year-round, including malls, consumer expos and fairs. Treasury also works with members of the General Assembly in helping determine if their constituents have unclaimed property. ” This in a statement from the Office of the Treasurer of Pennsylvania.

Considering the massive size of the Pennsylvania unclaimed money pile though, it’s clear that the state’s efforts are inadequate for the sheer numbers (tens of thousands) of citizens owed unclaimed funds annually. If you think you or a relative might have unclaimed money with Pennsylvania or other states, now would be the best time to get some lost money back in your pockets. Do an unclaimed money search now!