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!

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site is http://www.unclaimedmoney.net which is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Pennsylvania unclaimed money and missing money across the country.

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