PA Treasury announces record-breaking unclaimed property return total

WPSU | By Sydney Roach

Published July 21, 2023 at 2:43 PM EDT

The 2022-23 fiscal year broke a record for the amount of unclaimed property returned to Pennsylvanians. Treasurer Stacy Garrity shows off a graph with the $237.7 million total returned for the last fiscal year compared to the previous four fiscal years.

The Pennsylvania Treasury Department returned more unclaimed property in the last fiscal year than ever before – a record-breaking $237.7 million.

Treasurer Stacy Garrity said one in 10 Pennsylvanians are owed some of the more than $4 billion in unclaimed property. The average claim is worth about $1,600.

“I’m glad to keep that money safe, but it doesn’t belong to me or the state. It belongs to the hard working taxpayers who earned it," Garrity said in a press conference Thursday.

Three military medals in the Pennsylvania Treasury's vault of unclaimed property. — Tangible unclaimed property includes military decorations and memorabilia.

Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, abandoned stocks and uncashed checks.

Tangible property, which is often the contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes, can be auctioned after three years, but proceeds remain available to claim.

Military decorations and memorabilia are never auctioned and remain in the vault for safekeeping until a veteran or their family is found.

You can search the treasury’s unclaimed property database online.