If you haven’t checked with the State of North Carolina to see if you have any unclaimed money just waiting for you to take, you really, really should.
A surprising number of people are delighted to find that the state is holding onto some long lost money for them. Honestly, there’s so much lost money being held by the state that, when you’re at the site, you shouldn’t just check for yourself, but also your friends and family.
You’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at what you discover and you can make your friends forever grateful.
The Department of State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division – NCCash.com – has identified property valued at over a billion dollars that’s waiting to be returned to its rightful owners after being “lost, misdirected or overlooked.”
Recently, even the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association found itself on the receiving end of money that had gone unclaimed for years.
On Wednesday, Jan. 25, NC State Treasurer Dale Folwell presented a check from the state’s NCCash Program to the executive committee of the NC Sheriff’s Association during a meeting of the committee in downtown Raleigh.
Eddie Caldwell, the Association’s executive vice president and general counsel, said the association will put the money to good use.
“We are grateful for Treasurer Folwell’s hard work to return money that will go a long way toward the Association’s mission to enhance and protect the Office of Sheriff and public safety in North Carolina,” Caldwell stated in a press release.
The Association is one of many entities in the state that was missing money: Western Carolina University, the Town of Biltmore Forest in Buncombe County, and the North Carolina Railroad Company, were also all recipients NCCash Program.
“I am glad to be able to return this money to its rightful owners so that it can be used to further the mission of protecting the public,” Folwell stated in a press release of the money going to the Sheriff’s Association. “In this time of rising costs, every dollar counts. Numerous sheriffs’ offices in North Carolina have money in NCCash.com waiting to be reclaimed, and the Department of State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division is ready, willing and able to assist.”
According to the department’s website, unclaimed property can result from a person or entity forgetting that they’re due money, or it can be lost during a move. It also could result from a typing error in an address or a name change by a business or organization.
You can see if you’re owed money from the program by going to https://unclaimed.nccash.com/app/claim-search and searching your name or the name of your business.
With the Sheriff’s Association involved, and I think I understand how this works. Say you are a wanted felon. You get a call saying hey, we have some of your money. Come to such-and-such address to pick it up. You go there and are promptly arrested.
I checked this out recently and did not find a thing for myself. However, to my surprise, there were several for my dad who passed away in 2015. The problem with all this is that they would have to write that check to “The Estate Of…..” which is a problem because my dad’s estate closed years ago. The only way to cash that check would be to file paperwork to re-open the estate, cash the check (may have to open an account to do this), and then complete paperwork to close the estate again. The amount is less than $100.00 so really just not worth the hassle. You would think after a certain period of time, the unclaimed money would be donated to a good cause or something useful. But, when I asked they told me that unless the money is paid out it will remain in the unclaimed funds forever. That needs to be changed.