CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – State Treasurer Riley Moore today announced checks totaling nearly $2.9 million have been sent to more than 2,300 recipients as part of the third year of the “West Virginia Cash Now” unclaimed property program, which automatically reunites certain individuals with their lost or unclaimed funds.
“The West Virginia Cash Now program has revolutionized and improved the way we return lost and unclaimed money to individuals, with more than $9 million now returned to rightful owners over the past three years,” Treasurer Moore said. “This program is one of the successful ways we’ve modernized and updated the State Treasurer’s Office to better serve our people.”
West Virginia Cash Now launched in 2022 as a new, automated system for sending unclaimed property to its rightful owners – without the need for those individuals to file paperwork with the State Treasurer’s Office.
Borne out of House Bill 4511, an unclaimed property modernization bill that Treasurer Moore proposed to lawmakers during that year’s regular legislative session, this program allows the Unclaimed Property Division to quickly issue checks to residents who have addresses and contact information that are readily verifiable in legal databases.
The Treasurer’s Office mailed letters to potential recipients in July to notify them they should be receiving a check through the program. In addition to informing the individuals they would be getting a check, the letters were also used to verify addresses. Letters that came back undeliverable were removed from the West Virginia Cash Now check distribution.
A total of 2,357 individuals will receive checks as part of this year’s distribution, representing a total of $2,858,833.43 returned to rightful owners.
The checks were mailed by the Office at the end of the last week, so they should be hitting residents’ mailboxes as early as today.
“I want to encourage everyone: If you receive a letter from my Office this week, be sure to open it and deposit the check inside,” Treasurer Moore says. “One of the few challenges we’ve had with this program is that people think it’s too good to be true – they can’t believe someone from the government is sending them money instead of asking for it.
“I want to assure everyone who receives these letters that this is a legitimate program, the money is yours and you have every right to cash that check and use that money as you see fit,” Treasurer Moore said.
West Virginia’s unclaimed property laws protect the public by ensuring money and property owed to them is returned, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments and other entities. The Treasurer seeks to reunite the unclaimed property, which often comes from uncashed checks, refunds, stocks or safe deposit box contents, with its owner.
The Unclaimed Property Division regularly receives property remittances from holders, and now has more than 3.5 million listings valued at $435 million in its database.
The West Virginia Cash Now program applies to one of the most common types of claims: Individual property owners with claim amounts ranging from $500 to less than $5,000 will be receiving checks this year through the program.
More information about the program is available at the Unclaimed Property Division’s official website: www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov.
Information on the Cash Now program is available by clicking on the “WV Cash Now” tab at the top of the page.
While the Cash Now program created a new automated process for certain claims, it does not apply to all claims. Businesses, government entities, estate claims and securities are not covered by the program because additional documentation is required to verify the owner. Individuals with claims of $5,000 or more will also still have to file paperwork with the Office to receive their claim.
To learn more about the unclaimed property program and to search its database, visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov.
