Expanding Efforts to Reunite Owners with Their Lost Money

Delaware’s Office of Unclaimed Property has joined the second annual National Unclaimed Property Day campaign to encourage Delawareans to find and claim their missing money.  Delaware residents should search for unclaimed property held by Delaware and other states at https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/ or at https://missingmoney.com/ to search across forty-five states at one time.

“The Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property is pleased to join all other states participating in National Unclaimed Property Day this year,” said Brenda R. Mayrack, Director of the Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property.  “As we learned during the pandemic, discovering lost assets can be of great assistance to families in need.”

In 2021, to increase awareness of unclaimed property, the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) launched the first National Unclaimed Property Day on February 1.  National Unclaimed Property Day serves as a national initiative to help raise awareness for and reunite individuals with their unclaimed property.  More information about NAUPA and National Unclaimed Property Day is available at http://ucpday.org.

“Approximately 1 in 7 people nationally may have unclaimed property held by Delaware or another state,” said Mayrack.  “I remind all Delawareans to take advantage of the second annual Unclaimed Property Day, on February 1st, to search for your name in Delaware’s and the MissingMoney.com databases.”

According to NAUPA, more than 4 billion dollars in unclaimed property was returned to its rightful owners by all state unclaimed property offices in FY 2022.  Delaware returned over $205 million dollars in claims during FY 2022 and returned over $500 million during the last three fiscal years.

In October 2022, Delaware joined a coalition of forty-five states participating in MissingMoney.com, a free multistate unclaimed property search website sponsored by NAUPA.  MissingMoney.com allows individuals to conduct one search across forty-five states simultaneously.  MissingMoney.com will display any states in which there is a match and provide information and links to the official government websites to begin the claims process.  The site also directly integrates with Delaware’s claims processing database for real time information.

“MissingMoney.com offers Delawareans the chance to easily find property that may be held by other states and begin the reunification process,” explained Mayrack.  “MissingMoney.com has been an excellent tool for our office to return property to owners more efficiently.”

Director Mayrack also reminds Delawareans to watch their mailboxes this time of year for owner notification letters.  By law, all companies or holders of unclaimed property must send a letter to the owner’s last known address prior to reporting the property to the state.  With Delaware’s March 1 Spring Reporting deadline fast approaching, Delawareans may avoid the escheatment of their property by responding to these letters promptly.

Unclaimed property can include money left in old bank accounts, uncashed paychecks, unused balances on gift certificates, unreturned utility deposits, uncollected insurance payments, and forgotten stocks and dividends. Businesses are required to turn over these amounts to States after a certain number of years if contact is lost between the holder of the property and the property owner.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) is comprised of the unclaimed property programs of all 50 states, including Delaware, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as several foreign jurisdictions. The organization’s objective is to facilitate collaboration and otherwise support program administrators in reuniting all unclaimed assets with rightful owners. NAUPA is an affiliate of the bi-partisan National Association of State Treasurers.

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