State Treasurer Urges Residents to Check the List for Money Waiting to be Claimed

Connecticut State Treasurer Erick Russell, in office for not quite a month, is encouraging Connecticut residents to search CTBigList.com to see if the state is holding any unclaimed money that is just waiting to be returned.   And there are plans to hire additional staff to accelerate the return of money to rightful owners, along with leveraging technology to continue efforts already underway to give people their money back. 

“The unclaimed property program is a great way to reunite residents and other entities with money or property that was lost or abandoned somewhere in the system,” said Russell. “This money belongs in the hands of its rightful owners, and I encourage everyone to search the database and claim their property.” 

Russell noted that Improvements to the unclaimed property program in recent years have expanded the list of viewable property on the online database and streamlined the claims process by doing away with the requirement that claim forms be notarized. 

In Fiscal Year 2022, the office processed nearly 25,000 claims and returned over $70 million — both historic highs. Already, fiscal Year 2023, which began in July 2022, is on pace to surpass those totals. More than 17,000 claims were paid between July and January alone. 

In addition, a relatively new state law now permits the Treasurer’s Office to be proactive in notifying unclaimed property owners with verifiable addresses through mailings.  That program is slated to get underway later this year.

"I’m taking office at an exciting time for the program. Lawmakers and my predecessor, former Treasurer Shawn Wooden, made some necessary and forward-thinking changes. I’m eager to build on that work and collaborate with policymakers and experts in Connecticut and across the country, to establish our state as a leader in returning unclaimed property to its owners.”  

Russell has outlined a series of steps he plans to take to bolster the unclaimed property program including: 

• Leveraging new technology to reduce the need for manual review and intervention, with the goal of automatic payments for many claims. 

• Collaborating with other state agencies to create automated systems for intercepting past due child support. 

• Hiring additional staff in the Treasurer’s Office to review and process claims faster, while using technology to free up more time for direct communication with constituents. 

• Continuing to spread the word across the state and in partnership with community organizations and government leaders. 

• Working with program managers in other states through the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) to establish best practices and participate in creative national lookup tools.

"The people in my office who work on this program are doing a great public service and take great pride in helping people. I want to support them with better tools and resources so they can spend more time focusing on complex cases and direct personal support,” Russell explained. 

Unclaimed property includes unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits and refunds, annuities, contents of safe deposit boxes, and other items of value for which the owner has not initiated any activity for a designated period of time (called the dormancy period).

When that happens, and the holder of the property cannot locate the owner, the money or other properties are submitted to the state, officials explained.  In Connecticut, those funds are administered by the Office of the Treasurer.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators estimates that one in seven Americans has unclaimed property waiting to be claimed. There is no time limit for a property owner to file a claim with the state of Connecticut.  For more information, or to search for unclaimed property, visit CTBigList.com or call 800-833-7318.