Eastern Idahoans show up to claim their missing money. Here’s how you can get yours
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BLACKFOOT — You could have money waiting for you to claim it — and it’s not a scam.
More than 150 eastern Idahoans began claims to regain their lost property Wednesday, and you could be one of many throughout the state who can do the same.
Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth and Operations and Policy Specialist Merissa Landers were at the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot to help people see if they had unclaimed money and, if so, help them get it back. When a person has missing or unclaimed money or property, the unclaimed property division of the treasurer’s office holds it for them and can return it to them.
“I want you to know that this is not a scam,” said Julie Ellsworth, Idaho state treasurer. “The Unclaimed Property Division is a division of my office, and we are maintaining your lost money here, so come and get it.”
While the treasurer’s visit to eastern Idaho is over now, people still have the opportunity to recover money that they’ve lost.
To find out if the treasurer’s office is holding any of your unclaimed money or property, and then start a claim to get it, click here.
Ellsworth said there’s a variety of ways people lose their money, ranging from dormant bank accounts, unknowingly being the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or just having checks that haven’t been cashed.
“You’d be surprised how many people forget their last paycheck,” Ellsworth said.
“Doesn’t it sound too good to be true? It is true.”
Between 150 and 175 people claimed property on Wednesday, but this is a small portion of the $266 million in unclaimed property the state treasurer’s office holds in total.
While Ellsworth and Landers weren’t aren’t able to cut people checks or hand out cash that people were missing, they were able to help people claim their lost property. The way Ellsworth sees it, the value of meeting with people in-person is so that she can work with them and assuage their doubts about the legitimacy of the unclaimed property division.
“This allows you to work with people live, and to learn that it’s really not a scam. Doesn’t it sound too good to be true? It is true,” Ellsworth said.
Jerica Hardy, a high school teacher in Idaho Falls, came to the Potato Museum on Wednesday because she has an issue with her unclaimed property. Her grandmother purchased a bond for her, but her grandmother put it under her own Social Security number, and the physical copy of the bond has been lost.
Ellsworth said that Hardy’s situation was complicated, and they couldn’t to process a claim for her. However, they were able to get the contact for someone in Boise to recover her bond.
Jordan Parris, a resident of Blackfoot, found out that he had over $100 in unclaimed property, and he has no idea when he lost it. He also found out that some of his relatives had unclaimed money.
“That was well worth it to come check it out,” Parris said.
While the bond that Hardy lost isn’t worth much, it still means something to her to be able to recover it.
“That was a gift that my grandma had given us, if it still exists, that just kind of got lost, and it’s recoverable,” Hardy said.
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