Banner month for Nevada returning unclaimed money

CARSON CITY — Henderson resident Donna Sesock thought it was a scam when her daughter told her that she was on Nevada’s unclaimed property list.

But she figured it was worth the time to check it out, so she visited the state treasurer’s office in Las Vegas to learn if she was indeed in line for some cash.

It turned out that Sesock was listed as the beneficiary of $5.76 from Ford Motor Credit. But a further review of her case uncovered a bigger find: $11,454.10 from the state of Michigan for back child support.

Sesock, who said she lives paycheck to paycheck, was shocked to find out that the money existed.

“The truth was I was flabbergasted,” she said. “My daughter is buying a house so I helped her out a bit. I also bought a car.”

State Treasurer Kate Marshall said Tuesday her office’s efforts to publicize the unclaimed property have already been hugely successful this year.

Every year about this time the office puts the word out about the $650 million safeguarded by the office’s Unclaimed Property Division.

This past June, the effort resulted in 11,131 claims being filed, nearly 5,000 more than were submitted in June of 2013.

Of that total, more than $9.2 million has been paid out on 10,000 claims filed in Clark County just in the month of June.

The claims are a good start to seeing a year when money returned to its rightful owners surpasses the nearly $35 million returned in the 2014 fiscal year, Marshall said.

Nevada’s return rate is 48 percent, well ahead of the nationwide average of 33 percent.

“By effectively streamlining the unclaimed property process, we have been able to make government more effective and more efficient for the people of Nevada,” she said. “My office set a goal to get money back in the hands of Nevadans. Our return rate demonstrates our success.”

Marshall mentioned another story about a woman with three children who had lost their husband and father to a terminal illness. The husband told his wife he had $5,000 in a deposit box. When the box was opened, there was $55,000.

“She almost fainted right there,” Marshall said. “Staff had to hold her up.”

Unclaimed property can range from money left in an escrow account from a home sale to a last paycheck from a job to a deposit on a utility account.

“So you just don’t know,” she said. “And it’s your money. It is not our money.”

Nevadans can utilize the division’s online search engine to find missing abandoned property by going to http://www.nevadatreasurer.gov/ and then clicking on the yellow “Search for Unclaimed Property” box, or by visiting NevadaTreasurer.gov/UPSearch/.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.