Nevada Treasurer’s Office: More than $28M in unclaimed property returned during pandemic
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 11/01/2020 - 2:16pm
CARSON CITY — Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine announced Thursday the return of more than $28.5 million in unclaimed property to Nevadans during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Treasurer’s Office Unclaimed Property Division.
Beginning last year, every Nevada Day the Office undertakes a special initiative to identify and return missing money and property to organizations and individuals who help make Nevada a great place to call home. The Office is proud to continue the initiative in 2020 by connecting individuals who have been severely financially impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic with their missing funds.
A portion of the $28.5 million in paid claims is the result of an inter-agency pilot program. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Treasurer’s Office worked with the Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR) to develop a program designed to connect individuals who filed claims for unemployment insurance benefits with their unclaimed property.
Thus far, the inter-agency program has processed and approved claims valued at over $1.4 million. Additional claims valued at $1.2 million, whose owners have been notified, remain outstanding.
DETR and the Treasurer’s Office will continue working to connect individuals with their unclaimed property as new individuals file for unemployment benefits, including those who file for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).
“As Nevadans face uncertain economic times, we are working as hard as we can to connect them with their unclaimed property,” said Treasurer Zach Conine. “All Nevadans should visit our website to see if they have unclaimed property which is owed to them. Many properties can be claimed online.”
“We are extremely proud to partner with the Treasurer’s Office to connect Nevadans who are currently out-of-work with additional funds to help them pay their bills,” said DETR Director Elisa Cafferata. “We are hopeful that we can continue to identify more claimants who are owed these funds over the coming months.”
The Office began remote work April 6, 2020, and has approved 29,592 claims totaling $28,504,481.62. This is this the highest number of claims approved and the largest amount of unclaimed property ever returned during a 30-week period.
About Nevada’s Unclaimed Property Program:
The Unclaimed Property Division in the State Treasurer’s Office works with businesses to report and recover Nevadans’ unclaimed property, which includes things like bank accounts, court settlements, life insurance proceeds, safe deposit box contents, uncashed checks, utility deposits and stocks.
The Office currently safeguards more the $910 million in unclaimed property belonging to individuals, heirs and businesses who have, at some point in time, resided or did business in Nevada.
The Unclaimed Property Division works diligently to return such property (or its cash value) to its rightful individual owner. All unreturned property is held in perpetuity by the Treasurer’s Office.
Individuals can search for and claim their unclaimed property at ClaimItNevada.org. They can also email ask@nevadatreasurer.gov for more information.
