Celebrate Unclaimed Funds Month

ZANESVILLE, OH – February is a month filled with loads of National Holidays, but one you might not have heard of is Unclaimed Funds Month.

According to the Department of Commerce, one in seven Americans have unclaimed funds.

Here in Ohio, the Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds is currently safeguarding more than $4 billion in unclaimed funds.

Susie Wagner, the Outreach Administrator for the Division of Unclaimed Funds, said some of that unclaimed money could be yours.

“We want people to search their names and claim their money.” Wagner said. “Right now the average payout, in terms of last year in 2023, the average claim that was paid out was $3,000. $3,000 is a lot that anyone could use right now for so many things.”

Wagner detailed the process on how to check if you, or a family member, have unclaimed funds.

“We encourage everyone to go to unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov, that’s our website and there are 3 easy steps to claim your money.” Wagner said. “The first is, search your name for unclaimed funds. I’m going to send you to missingmoney.com, which is a State sponsored website. All you need to do is put in your name, run a search, and you’re looking for any claims that may come up with matching addresses of where you might have lived. Then you’ll follow the prompts to generate a claim form.”

Wagner said the second step is to check their checklist of which documents are required for your particular claim. She said the final step is to send the documents out, either by mail or by uploading it to the website.

To check if you have unclaimed funds you can go to unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov.