Treasurer Stacy Garrity Announces Return of More Than $26,000 in Unclaimed Property to Berks County
More than $80,000 in unclaimed property has been returned to Berks County since 2022
Reading, PA - Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity and Berks County Commissioners Leinbach, Rivera, and Santoni announced today that more than $26,000 in unclaimed property has been returned to Berks County.
“Since taking office, I’ve visited Reading, Leesport, and Blandon, and I know that the residents of Berks County work hard and want every taxpayer dollar to be used wisely to benefit their communities. I’m glad to safeguard unclaimed property, but it doesn’t belong to the state – and getting it back into the right hands is one of my top priorities. I encourage everyone, including government agencies and businesses, to go to Treasury’s website regularly to see if any money is available for them to claim.”
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity
“In this economy every little bit can make a difference. I’m pleased that our State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is doing everything possible to see these funds are returned to Berks County.”
Commissioner Christian Leinbach
The $26,238.78 returned to Berks County includes 99 individual properties ranging in value from $.50 to $5,248.79. The oldest property dates back to 1986, while the most recent is from 2021. Properties returned include funds from accounts payable checks, cashier’s checks, credit balances, refund/rebates, uncashed checks, and other forms of unclaimed property. County officials will decide how the funds are used.
Treasury returned an additional $53,946.48 in unclaimed property to Berks County in November of 2022, for a total of $80,185.26.
“The fact that we’ve returned unclaimed property to Berks County twice since 2022 is a great example of why people should check for unclaimed property frequently. Treasury receives hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unclaimed property every year, and we’re always working to get that money back into the right hands.”
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity
Treasurer Garrity has returned more than $16 million to 74 local government agencies, including counties, municipalities and school districts, since taking office.
Treasury is working to return more than $4.5 billion in unclaimed property to its rightful owners. More than one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed unclaimed property, and the average claim is worth about $1,600.
Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, insurance policies, contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes and more. State law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
Treasury keeps tangible unclaimed property for about three years before it is auctioned. Auction proceeds are kept in perpetuity for owners to claim. Military decorations and memorabilia are never auctioned.
To learn more about unclaimed property or to search Treasury’s database, visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property.
Media contacts:
Samantha Heckel, Press Secretary (Treasury), 717-418-0206 or sheckel@patreasury.gov
Jonathan Heintzman, Public Relations Officer (Berks County), 610-507-0063 or jheintzman@berkspa.gov
