SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Treasurer’s office is reaching out to veterans, hoping to reunite them with unclaimed property or money.
According to Treasurer Marlo Oaks estimates his office received $50 million dollars worth of unclaimed property and money every year.
“The idea is, if I have something that isn’t mine, I have to give it back. Businesses end up with money that isn’t theirs and by law, after 3 years they send it back to the state,” Oaks said. “There is a lot of money sitting there. About one in five Utahns has unclaimed property.”
The Office of the State Treasurer worked with the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs to identify 22,000 veterans who may have unclaimed property.
“It’s really a great opportunity to get money back to our veterans who have sacrificed so much for us,” Oaks said.
Those veterans will soon receive a letter directing them to search on this website.
If they discover their name is listed next to any unclaimed money, they can file a claim on the website.
While outreach is being done to focus on veterans this month because of Veterans Day, any Utahn can search their name in the database to learn if they may have unclaimed property or cash.
“That’s what we hope, that people will find this money. It's rightfully theirs,” Oaks said. “Then they can use it as they see fit, but we want to get it back into the economy so it can be used.”
