WS Chronicle

Citizens and business owners in Forsyth County are owed more than $50,000,000 and NC State Treasurer Dale Folwell has launched an initiative to get the unclaimed money back to the rightful owners.

NCCash Match is the Department of State Treasurer’s new program designed to make it easier for unclaimed property owners to receive their money. With the NCCash Match program, unclaimed property owners do not need to take action to receive their money. The unclaimed property division will research records and identify qualifying claims of $5,000 or less.

According to Folwell, when the program launched in 2020, his office had more than $800 million in unclaimed property. And since that time that number has grown to more than $919 million.

Unclaimed property can mean items such as uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits, life insurance policies, stocks, bonds and other funds that have been abandoned and no owner can be found.

The funds were turned over to the N.C. Treasurer by companies that did business with citizens and business owners at one point in time. When that company could no longer contact the citizen or business, by law they were required to send the money to the state treasurer for safekeeping.

Here in Forsyth County there are 619,645 claims listed on the NCCash website totaling $50,175,969.34. In a press release issued on National Unclaimed Property Day, Folwell said one of the most rewarding parts of his job is sending checks to those whose money has been kept, often unknown to them.

“Our Unclaimed Property Division (UPD) is working hard to put money back into the owners’ wallets,” Treasurer Folwell said. “We are slowly coming out of the damaging economic effects of the COVID lockdowns, and are now confronting rapid inflation. We have heard from many individuals, businesses, churches and charities that the money we are putting back in their hands makes a welcome difference in their financial circumstances. That’s why we have initiated new programs with the help of the General Assembly and continue researching other methods to speed up the process.”

For more information, including how to find out if you are owed money, go to https://www.nccash.com/ (link is external).