Local residents may soon be receiving money from the state, as part of the Pennsylvania Money Match program.
Checks have been mailed to more than 7,000 people across the Commonwealth, totaling more than $1.7 million.
PA Money Match, a newly implemented program, enables the Treasury to automatically return specific unclaimed property to its rightful owners. The program was unanimously approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro last year.
“Most of these folks didn’t even realize they had unclaimed property waiting for them,” Treasurer Stacy Garrity explains. “We want to get the word out about this program, and let people know that these checks will be arriving, so everyone knows that this is a real program, this is real money, and it belongs to them.”
In January, the Pennsylvania Treasury sent due diligence letters to Pennsylvanians indicating that unclaimed property would be automatically returned to them. The first round of the Pennsylvania Money Match program includes 7,380 checks, totaling $1.7 million in returned unclaimed property. Money Match checks will be sent quarterly. The next batch, which will include about 40,000 letters with checks to follow, will go out in May.
“Money Match is a great example of government working for you so you don’t have to jump through hoops to claim what’s rightfully yours,” said Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, who was the House sponsor for the program. “I’m hopeful the success of this program will fast-track even more programs and legislation that will allow the Treasury to get your money back in your hands sooner.”
Pennsylvania Money Match authorizes Treasury to automatically return single-owner properties valued up to $500 after a thorough identification and verification process. Unclaimed property includes things such as dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, insurance policies, tangible property like the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes, and more. In most cases, state law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
More than one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed some of the $4.5 billion in unclaimed property being safeguarded by Treasury. The average value of a claim is about $1,600.
“Virtually every Pennsylvanian either has unclaimed property sitting at Treasury or knows someone who does,” said Senator Scott E. Hutchinson. “For too long, those funds remained unknown to the rightful owners, and that’s where PA Money Match comes in. This innovative program has revolutionized how we handle unclaimed property in Pennsylvania by automatically matching individuals with their unclaimed funds.”
More information about Pennsylvania Money Match is available at patreasury.gov/MoneyMatch.
