By David McRae

We all know the feeling we get when we dig out an old coat and find a $20 bill hidden in the pocket. It’s money we didn’t know we had; money we didn’t expect to be able to spend.

At your State Treasury, we help Mississippians dig through life’s pockets to find money they didn’t know they had either. The industry calls these funds “unclaimed property.”

Where does this money come from? It could be an energy bill refund that was sent to the wrong address, a forgotten-about CD, or an inheritance you were unaware you had. If no one claims these funds for five years, the money gets turned over to my team, and we become responsible for finding the rightful owner and returning the cash to them.

Having unclaimed money is pretty common. In fact, about one in 10 people could claim some of this cash, but most don’t even know to check. That’s why our team made it a priority to proactively seek out the owners of unclaimed money across the Magnolia State.

The work paid off. During 2020, my first year in office, we returned more than $20 million in unclaimed money to Mississippi, the largest calendar-year amount on record. This gave our COVID-stricken economy a multi-million-dollar boost. Or to put it another way, it was a stimulus for families, healthcare heroes, state and local governments, and small businesses that didn’t cost taxpayers a penny.

February 1 marked Unclaimed Property Day across the United States, but if you ask me, every day is a good day to find money. As such, I invite you to search for your unclaimed money at Treasury.MS.gov. Here, you can type in your last name, a family member’s name, your church’s name, even your business’s name.

There are no fees to file your claim; so, if you find cash that’s yours, claim it.

Then, we’ll get to work verifying the return.

We are proud of the millions of dollars we’ve paid out to Mississippi so far, but there’s still millions left to return. Let us help you dig through some of life’s coat pockets. You never know what kind of cash you’ll be able to pull out. Once again, visit Treasury.MS.gov or call (601) 359-3534 to begin your search.