Louisiana to send out $4.4M in unclaimed property checks today

BATON ROUGE, La. — $4.4 million worth of unclaimed property checks are being mailed out today following a data match to update addresses with the Louisiana Department of Revenue, announced Louisiana State Treasurer John M. Schroder. Every parish in the state will receive a check in the mail.

"These are real checks from the Louisiana Department of Treasury, so we want you to cash them,” said Schroder. "Unfortunately, about 20 percent of the checks we mail out each year as part of this match go uncashed, either because people have changed addresses, or because they don’t believe the check is real. We want the money to go in people’s bank accounts, not get returned to Treasury. They’re real checks, and it’s your money.”

At this time, there is more than $1 billion in unclaimed property to return. Every year, businesses turn over millions of dollars in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds, securities and insurance proceeds to the State Treasurer's Office. These funds include payroll checks, old bank accounts, royalties, utility deposits, interest payments, stock certificates and life insurance proceeds, according to the Louisiana Department of the Treasury.

An item typically becomes unclaimed property when a company has an incorrect or old address and is unable to return funds.

One in six Louisiana residents has Unclaimed Property, with claims averaging around $900. To find out if you have Unclaimed Property, search here or call the Treasury's Unclaimed Property Division toll-free at 1-888-925-4127 anytime Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4:30 pm.

Below is a list of parishes, amounts returned, and a total number of checks that will be mailed this week: