Virginia holds over $1 billion in unclaimed funds: Are you owed any?
VENN
(NEXSTAR) – Could you use some extra funds to offset all your holiday spending? Virginia may have some money you're owed, just waiting to be claimed.
Nationwide, state officials (typically the treasury division or the auditor) are frequently tasked with collecting property from inactive bank accounts, overpaid bills, uncashed checks, unpaid benefits, or abandoned safe deposit boxes. In most cases, the property is monetary, but in the case of the latter, it could be items like art and baseball cards.
It's estimated that 1 in 10 Americans has unclaimed property.
If a business owes you funds or property from any of the aforementioned avenues, state laws usually require that they make every effort to return them to you. But if those efforts are unfruitful, the property can be turned over to the state.
States, meanwhile, allow you to search their repository to find any property in your name.
In Utah, for example, officials announced in October that the state's Unclaimed Property Division received $178.3 million in unclaimed property through fiscal year 2025. Over the same time period, it returned a record $43.4 million to Utahns.
Searching for your property is relatively easy. You'll need to search your name (or that of a relative or spouse or a business you own) and complete the claim process, which can vary by state and based on what the property is.
You can search for property via MissingMoney.com, created by state governments and Canadian provinces, to find property belonging to you throughout both countries, or by clicking on your state name below for more information:
Some states hold auctions if items go unclaimed for extended periods of time. The Alabama state treasurer, for example, has several items up for auction, including jewelry, coins and gold bars.
States say they hold millions or billions in unclaimed funds. In California, there is roughly $15 billion in unclaimed property, according to the State Controller's Office. Texas has more than $10.5 billion, while in Ohio, there is roughly $4.8 billion waiting to be claimed.
