GREENSBORO, N.C. — Almost $1.3 billion in unclaimed cash and property is sitting at the NC State Treasurer's Office waiting to be claimed.
Where is this money coming from? These are funds from closed bank accounts, wages that were owed, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, and bonds as well as the contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned for some time.
I recently had a News 2 viewer say, "I've lived at my address for 30 years. There's no way a company I've done business with can't find me."
I can see how you'd think that, but...
"We are in the process of doing unclaimed property in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to state agencies. I'm the State Treasurer, these are state agencies! So when your viewer says I've lived here all my life, what is the problem, sometimes the check does not get delivered and does not get cashed," said Dale Folwell, NC State Treasurer.
The way you check to see if you, your family members, your church, or your business has unclaimed cash is by going to NCcash.com. You simply type in your name to narrow down the search you can put in your city and zip code.
If you have cash, you file a claim to get it. Part of that includes putting in your social security number to confirm who you are. Don't let that freak you out.
"The reason for the need for the Social Security number is if you think about a bank account you think about stock dividends, any of those financial instruments, nine times out of 10 you open those accounts based on Social Security number," said Folwell.
Checking and getting your unclaimed cash from the state is free. But don't Google the words unclaimed cash and NC --- chances are you'll end up on a third-party site that will charge you. Only use NCcash.com