SALT LAKE CITY — Over the years, I've helped Utahns find forgotten checks, old refunds and utility deposits — money they did not even know was missing. And now, the pile is bigger than ever.
Growth of unclaimed property
Every year, millions of dollars of unclaimed property get turned over to the state. Sources include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, safe deposit box contents, unpaid insurance benefits and more.
Comparing recent claim statistics
Ten years ago, Utah took in $43 million in unclaimed property from 109,000 claims. Last year, that amount ballooned to $178 million from 705,000 claims — more than four times the money and more than six times the claims. It’s estimated that one in five Utahns has unclaimed property waiting for them.
Those numbers surprised Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks.
Reasons for the surge
He attributes some of that surge to better technology. Businesses have become better at finding and reporting unclaimed property.
Other factors? Inflation. Things cost more money, which in turn has pushed the amount of unclaimed money higher. Add Utah’s growing population to that, and you get a big, fat pile of cash getting stored in state coffers.
Record payouts to citizens
Utah is also reuniting people with their lost money at a record pace.
“Last year we had $43 million that we paid out,” Oaks said, “which was a record.”
Treasurer's goal for funds
Oaks said the treasurer's office is not in the business of holding on to the money. It wants to get it back to Utahns.
“Absolutely, yes. It doesn't do us any good just having it sit in a money market account,” Oaks said. “It's better that people have it in their wallet so they can spend it how they want.”
Upcoming Unclaimed Property Webathon
To that end, the Utah Office of State Treasurer is holding an Unclaimed Property Webathon on Wednesday, June 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The best way for this to work is to talk about it. So, text, message or email everyone you know and tell them to go to mycash.utah.gov and search the database for their name.
True story: Last week I was in a guy's living room interviewing him for an unrelated story. We got talking about lost money. We went to the website, and it turned out he had money waiting from Amazon. Just like that.
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