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Schmitt breaks record for reaching $1,000,000 unclaimed property return benchmark

JEFFERSON CITY – Eric Schmitt today became the first State Treasurer in Missouri history to return $1,000,000 in unclaimed property in their first 11 days in office.

“From day one I have made it a top priority to return Missouri’s unclaimed property to its rightful owners as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Schmitt. “My team is working hard to further streamline our claims process and make our average processing time shorter than ever before.”

The previous record for reaching the $1,000,000 benchmark was 17 days.

State law requires financial institutions, insurance companies, public agencies and other business entities to turn over assets to Treasurer Schmitt that belong to a customer, client, employee or other owner if there have been no documented transactions or contact with the owner after a statutorily-defined period of time, generally five years. Most Unclaimed Property consists of cash from bank accounts, stocks, bonds and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned. It also can include uncollected insurance policy proceeds, government refunds, utility deposits and wages from past jobs.

Treasurer Schmitt currently manages $993 million in unclaimed assets in more than 4.8 million owner accounts. One in ten Missourians has Unclaimed Property, and the average return is $300. Unclaimed Property can be searched for and claimed on ShowMeMoney.com.