Thousands of Louisiana residents may be getting checks for unclaimed property money in their mailboxes this week.
According to State Treasurer John M. Schroder, the Department of Treasury began mailing out 44,520 unclaimed property checks totaling $4.2 million this week.
The amount of each check varies, but the maximum an individual will receive in the mail is $1,500. Claim forms were sent for amounts totaling more than $1,500.
“This is not a scam. This is real money that belongs to you,” said Treasurer Schroder. “We want to make sure no one throws these checks away by accident. If you receive a check from me, take it to the bank.
This is Phase Two of a project that started with Act 339 of the 2018 Regular Session of the Legislature. The legislation, authored by Rep. Neil Abramson, enabled the Treasury to work with the Department of Revenue to share addresses for the sole purpose of returning unclaimed property. The first mail out happened in October of this year when Treasury sent out 85,000 checks totaling $15 million.
The project covers five years of unclaimed property records from 2013-2017 and includes items where there were Social Security Numbers attached to names. Not all unclaimed property records have Social Security Numbers. Without one, Treasury cannot confirm the owner’s current address for this project.
Each check includes the state seal and the Unclaimed Property Division’s address and website on the top of the check. The check stub also contains a memo describing the Act 339 initiative.
“Even if you didn’t get a check this time, you may still be owed unclaimed money,” said Treasurer Schroder. “We encourage you to visit www.latreasury.com to conduct a search.”
For more information, contact the Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Division toll-free at 1-888-925-4127 (Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Citizens can also search for their unclaimed money and file claims online at www.latreasury.com.
A rundown of the amounts and number of checks sent by parish is below:
