Lauren Verno answers your questions about the Holiday Money Hunt
News4Jax teamed up with the Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ office to find people that money. Twenty-four hours after the Holiday Money Hunt began, 3,441 people in Jacksonville had claimed $610,587.92. In News4Jax’s original story on the Holiday Money Hunt, we broke down how much money was available in more than 100 ZIP codes across Northeast Florida. The message says “Notification of Required Maintenace.” The CFO’s office says the website performs routine maintenance at different times of the day. Finally, if you don’t find any money for yourself, make sure to check for friends, family and neighbors.
Florida CFO: More than $39M returned to rightful owners in August
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – More than $39 million was returned to the rightful owners in August, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced Thursday. It was the second-highest monthly amount of unclaimed property recovered and returned to Floridians in the Division of Unclaimed Property’s 59-year history. The most common types of unclaimed property are dormant bank accounts, unclaimed insurance proceeds, stocks, dividends, uncashed checks, deposits, credit balances and refunds. Unclaimed property assets are held by business or government entities for a set period of time, usually five years. RELATED: How to find out if forgotten treasure is waiting for youAugust 2020 unclaimed property returns by region
How to find out if forgotten treasure is waiting for you
It’s called Florida’s unclaimed property. On FLTreasureHunt.gov, you can do a free search in about 30 seconds to see if you have any unclaimed property. RELATED: Treasure hunt: Unclaimed property may be waiting for you | There could be money waiting for you to claim itAccording to a private startup out of Gainesville called ClaimFound, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars unclaimed in Jacksonville alone. The only difference is they charge a percentage fee or a commission to help people find that money,” Prompovitch said. Say your name doesn’t show that you have any unclaimed property, that doesn’t mean there’s not something there.
There could be money waiting for you to claim it
You or your business may be struggling financially because of COVID-19, but there could be money just waiting for you to claim it. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis says an estimated one in five Floridians have unclaimed property just waiting, and it doesn’t cost you a dime to get it back. “This is another amazing milestone for our Unclaimed Property Team, especially since our staff has been teleworking since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The most common types of unclaimed property are dormant bank accounts, unclaimed insurance proceeds, stocks, dividends, uncashed checks, deposits, credit balances and refunds. Unclaimed property assets are held by business or government entities (holders) for a set period of time, usually five years.
'Treasure Hunt’: Unclaimed property may be waiting for you
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – If you’re sitting around at home during the coronavirus pandemic, you might think about searching for treasure. Not buried treasure, but unclaimed property being held by the state. Radio personality Shane Collins said he got bored during the pandemic, searched FLTreasureHunt.gov on a lark and hit the jackpot. If I had not searched that website, I would not have found that money.”Along with individuals, 1.3 million businesses have unclaimed property totaling nearly half a billion dollars. And fear not, if the state has already sold your treasure, you’re still entitled to the money that it brought in.