Treasurer Moore Announces Another Record-Breaking Year for Unclaimed Property Returns

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – State Treasurer Riley Moore announced his Office’s Unclaimed Property Division has once again set a new record for returning lost funds, with nearly $28 million worth of unclaimed property returned to individuals, businesses and organization over the last fiscal year.

“I am once again proud to announce my Office continues to beat our own records for how much money we’ve returned to our citizens,” Treasurer Moore said. “This is the third year in a row we’ve been able to set a new record for unclaimed property returns. Since I took Office in 2021, we have returned more than $81 million to our citizens, and I know this record pace will continue.

“I’m proud of the hard work that’s been put in by our entire team to ensure our citizens, businesses and other organizations are reconnected with their lost funds,” Treasurer Moore said. “This is the people’s money, and we’re working diligently to get it back to them.”

During Fiscal Year 2024, which ended June 30, the Unclaimed Property Division returned $27,989,624.99 in funds, topping the previous record of $26.8 million set during the prior fiscal year . Since it began in 1967, the program has returned more than $311 million to rightful owners.

Treasurer Moore has taken several steps since taking Office in 2021 to modernize and streamline the unclaimed property process. That included working with lawmakers in 2022 to pass House Bill 4511 , which improved both the process of claiming funds and how funds and properties are turned over to the Office.

This bill also allowed the Office to launch the successful “ West Virginia Cash Now ” program, which has automatically returned roughly $7 million to individuals since its inception, with another $3.3 million set to be returned this fall .

Additionally, the Office has ramped up its digital marketing efforts to help raise awareness of the program with various online and mobile audiences, and launched a mobile version of the website that features an SMS text feature which allows users to forward unclaimed property listings to family and friends if they see their names listed.

Also, to help assure residents of the legitimacy of the program, the state’s unclaimed property website and database was migrated to a .gov domain – www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov .

“One of the biggest challenges we face is that people think this program is too good to be true – they can’t believe someone from the government is trying to give them money instead of asking for it,” Treasurer Moore said. “We’ve been working hard over the years to promote and educate people about this program to assure them that this is their money and they can rightfully claim it.”

While the Office is returning money at the fastest pace in state history, it’s also receiving new claims at a record pace too – thanks in part to the modernization and streamlining reforms contained in House Bill 4511.

The State Treasurer’s Office now has more than $440 million worth of listings in its database.

“We’re receiving new listings on a continual basis, so that’s why I remind people to bookmark and keep coming back to our website – www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov – to check and see if we’re holding anything for you,” Treasurer Moore said.

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