Treasurer Curtis Loftis and Unclaimed Property Program featured by WIS

May 25, 2016

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -

More than $500 million worth of your un-cashed paychecks, forgotten utility deposits, and unclaimed insurance proceeds sits untouched with the State Treasurer's office.

Unclaimed property and cash, in some cases, dating back to the 1940s, could be yours with a quick trip to the South Carolina Treasurer’s Office website.

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis says it could be thousands to millions of dollars in stock, or it could be an old deposit worth less than a hundred dollars.

"If your Aunt Betsy dies and she doesn't have your proper address, that money comes to us," Loftis said. "Old security deposits from when you were in college or just out of high school. All sorts of money, it comes here and it adds up."

It could be something you didn’t even know was yours, and there’s no time limit on claiming the money.

"Say it's a life insurance policy, they may not know they were made the beneficiary, and if the forms aren't filled out properly and sent to the insurance company, there could be $100,000 to $200,000 or whatever that just goes missing, they didn't even know it," Loftis said.

It’s also not just individuals. It could be your business, nonprofit, or church. One recent recipient of some lost and found cash was Zion Baptist Church in Columbia.

"It's not too many times that you get a call that says, 'We have a check that's never been cashed by you guys of $3,200,'" said Clente Flemming, the Chairman of the Trustee Board for Zion Baptist Church.

Flemming said those thousands may go toward a new elevator for the historic church. For others like Sister Care, which is a safe haven for survivors of domestic violence and their children, the $2,300 they found out they were owed could mean the ability to provide critical services."It can help women with their prescriptions if they need prescriptions, it can help children with their therapeutic needs, it can go to repairs of our shelters," Flemming said.

Large or small, Loftis said his office is determined to return them all, because he knows they add up.

"It can mean whether they buy their medicines or not. It can mean whether or not they can pay their rent, and so while we talk about the larger claims because it's a good way to make people come and look at the site, we are very mindful that the most important claim is the person who really needs that money. They need it to live on this month," Loftis said.

Thursday evening, WIS TV conducted a phone bank with staffers from the Treasurer's office, along with a strong promotion of the website for claims, and Loftis' office tells us that there were more than 3,750 people, who found claims to somewhere in the neighborhood of a half-million dollars, in just under 24 hours with our help!

To find out if you have unclaimed cash: head to the treasurer’s office website, or you can e-mail them.

If you haven’t always lived in South Carolina, you can also check to see if you have unclaimed property in other states.