SOUTH CAROLINA — Almost $1 billion is floating around in South Carolina waiting for the right people to claim it. The state’s Unclaimed Property Program has hit an all time high. The state treasurer is trying to get every cent into the right hands.
South Carolina’s unclaimed property is now more than $850 million. State Treasurer Curtis Loftis Jr. says that’s an all time high for the program. The Treasurer says every penny of that belongs to South Carolina residents who most likely have no clue.
“It’s deposits on utilities, it’s inheritances, it’s commission paychecks, anything that’s a little bit complicated, it ends up here,” Loftis said.
The Treasurer assures the program is no scam and it’s completely free. To check if you are owed money, you can visit treasurer.sc.gov and click unclaimed property in the top right corner of the website. There you can enter your name and address to search if you are owed any money.
If funds do belong to you, you can then submit a claim through the treasurer’s site. Once your identity is confirmed the money will be sent to you.
Loftis urges all residents to search their friends and family members on the site as well. He says some who may have passed could have been owed money which would fall to that person’s heirs. It is estimated that one in every three South Carolinians is owed something.
Loftis says the average claim is worth $500. More people are owed everyday as the unclaimed property continues to rise.
“We’ll never get that number down to zero,” Loftis said. “I’m glad we have $1 billion but I hope that number is less next year.”
Loftis says the highest amount owed right now is $1.9 million. That money belongs to someone living in Myrtle Beach.