Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner today announced that “YOUR MONEY”, a program which automatically reunites Rhode Islanders with their missing money, is mailing checks to more than 4,000 people; returning a total of $1.4 million back to its rightful owner.
“We developed YOUR MONEY to make sure as many Rhode Islanders as possible get their missing money back in their pockets where it belongs,” said Treasurer Magaziner. “Many families struggle to meet their expenses each month. This money can help them buy groceries, put gas in their car, or be saved in a ‘rainy day’ fund.”
YOUR MONEY matches the state’s unclaimed property database with verified address information so that money can be returned it its rightful owners automatically. Rhode Island is only the second state to adopt such a system. In many cases, individuals might not be aware they were missing unclaimed property until the check arrives in the mail.
Unclaimed property can include money left in old bank accounts and safe deposit boxes, uncashed paychecks, unused balances on gift certificates, unreturned utility deposits, uncollected insurance payments and forgotten stocks and dividends.
Since the November 2017 launch of YOUR MONEY, more than $17 million in Rhode Island unclaimed property has been returned to over 52,000 people. Much of it has been returned automatically, without the need for paperwork.
While YOUR MONEY can automatically reunite many Rhode Islanders with their unclaimed property, all Rhode Islanders are still encouraged to visit findRImoney.com to see if the state is holding their unclaimed property.