State Looking To Return Cash, Property To Local Residents

June 23, 2010

Florida’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property is stepping up efforts to put unclaimed cash or property back into the hands of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

Florida CFO Alex Sink announced Tuesday that her Bureau of Unclaimed Property will begin focusing additional efforts to return unclaimed cash or property to Floridians living in areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster — including hundreds of residents in the North Escambia area.

“During this disaster and tough economic climate, every penny counts,” said CFO Alex Sink. “I encourage Gulf residents and businesses to visit www.FLTreasureHunt.org today to see if the state is holding any unclaimed property that may help them weather the economic effects of this disaster.”

Individuals with more than $100 in unclaimed property in Wakulla, Franklin, Gulf, Bay, Walton, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia counties will be receiving notices in the mail informing them how to claim their property. Those counties currently hold more than 335,000 unclaimed property accounts worth more than $30.5 million.

So far this fiscal year, CFO Sink’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property has returned $187 million, already $13 million more than last year’s record-setting year.

Since the program’s inception 49 years ago, the Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property has successfully reunited owners or relatives of deceased owners with more than $1.4 billion in unclaimed property. During CFO Sink’s tenure as CFO, the Bureau has successfully reunited owners, heirs and businesses with more than $678 million, 48 percent of all the money returned since the beginning of the program – due largely to aggressive efforts to contact owners.

The Bureau of Unclaimed Property, on behalf of Florida citizens, receives unclaimed funds from dormant accounts in financial institutions, unclaimed utility deposits, insurance benefits, premium refunds, uncashed checks and trust accounts, as well as watches, jewelry, coins, stamps and historical items from abandoned safe deposit boxes. Unclaimed property can be claimed for free at any time by the rightful owners or heirs by logging on to www.FLTreasureHunt.org or by calling the Bureau at 1-88-VALUABLE.

Comments

One Response to “State Looking To Return Cash, Property To Local Residents”

  1. hoohaa on June 23rd, 2010 8:20 am

    sounds like fun

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News