(Part 1 of 2)

Philadelphia cheese steaks, chocolates, soft pretzels and TastyKakes aren't the only great things you can find in Penn.. There's also the Liberty Bell, Christmas trees (Indiana County is the Christmas Tree capital of the world), steel of course, and last but certainly not least… massive piles of cash. Actually, cash from Pennsylvania unclaimed money to be precise. You read that right – around $1 billion in unclaimed property is with the Penn. State Treasury and it is just waiting to be tracked down by the citizens it belongs to.

Owners of Penn. unclaimed monies are residents (or former residents) of the state who may have either lost track of or forgotten about their financial assets by changing addresses and jobs. People often don't remember to leave a forwarding address when they move which ultimately results in undelivered mail which can contain items like tax refund checks. Escheat laws require forgotten funds be turned over to the hands of the state after a number of years wherein they go unclaimed.

According to the Penn. State Treasury, "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." Forgotten funds can also come from money orders, safe-deposit box contents, expired gift certificates, uncollected or unpaid salaries and wages, and traveler's checks. In fact, $157,290 in unpaid salaries and wages were reported to have been owed by the Heinz company recently and the company allegedly failed to report this to the State. Under Penn. Unclaimed Money Law, unpaid payroll checks held by businesses have to be remitted to the PA Treasury every two years and every five years for unclaimed properties like uncashed company checks and stock shares abandoned by shareholders. State Treasurer Robert Casey recently stated, "By law, all businesses, financial institutions and legal entities must report and return all unclaimed property to the Commonwealth."

(to be continued)

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