Treasury Has Record-Breaking Year Collecting and Returning Unclaimed Property

         Treasurer Kennedy Says $303 Million Still Owed to Citizens

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Louisiana Department of the Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Program closed out the 2006 fiscal year with $48.3 million in collections and $15.6 million in refunds -- both record amounts for the 33-year-old program.

“We collected a large amount of money this year partly because more businesses than ever are learning about their legal obligation to report unclaimed funds to the state,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “When businesses do not have correct addresses for the owners of utility deposits, apartment deposits, final paychecks and other funds, this money is turned over to the state for safekeeping.”

Unclaimed property employees issued 16,314 refunds this year, handled roughly 54,127 telephone inquiries, and answered more than 2,789 emails from citizens statewide. The Treasury returned an average of $1.3 million in unclaimed property each month and processed several large refunds including $265,232 for one individual. In addition to returning millions of dollars in unclaimed property to Louisiana citizens, the Treasury collected roughly $4.02 million each month from businesses and organizations.

“We beat last year’s refund record by $1.5 million and our collection record by nearly $6 million,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “We are still holding around $303 million in unclaimed property, so citizens should keep checking with us, because we get new money in every day. We expect an even greater influx of unclaimed property in the near future because so many of our citizens are displaced as a result of the hurricanes. We are making an extra effort to reunite hurricane victims with their funds as soon as we process their paperwork, and we are working diligently to revise the addresses of these claimants.”

Citizens can search for unclaimed property by calling the Treasury’s toll-free nationwide hotline at 1-888-925-4127 (weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or by visiting www.latreasury.com.
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