More than $52,000 in unclaimed property was returned to Nebraskans who visited the State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property booth at the 2013 Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island, State Treasurer Don Stenberg announced today.
Stenberg said 133 claims were filed by visitors to the State Treasurer’s booth during the 10-day fair. Those claims amounted to a total of $52,279 paid out to fairgoers. One claim for $15,761 was paid to a McCook resident. Other claims ranged in size from $7.59 to $960, which was paid to a woman from Ashland. A claim for $900 was approved for a Fremont man.
“That’s three times the total amount of claims paid during the 2012 State Fair,” Treasurer Stenberg said. Last year, 92 claims were initiated at the State Fair for a total of $15,596 and another $2,000 was paid out from the sale of stocks.
The total amount paid out so far this year is also up from last year. More than $7 million has been paid so far in 2013 to 11,730 owners, averaging almost $600 a claim.
“Our Unclaimed Property staff was very busy during the Nebraska State Fair, which is one of our most important and productive outreach events of the year,” Treasurer Stenberg said. “We are pleased that our efforts to make our Unclaimed Property program better known and to assure Nebraskans that our service is legitimate and user friendly are paying off.”
Stenberg said he expects the figures from the 2013 fair to go even higher as fairgoers spread the word among friends and family and additional claims initiated at the fair are submitted and processed by the Unclaimed Property staff. In all, the Treasurer’s Office is holding more than $125 million for 350,000 Nebraskans, former Nebraskans, and heirs.
The next outreach event for the Treasurer’s Office will be Sept. 10-12 at Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island. The Unclaimed Property booth will be set up in the Diversified Services Building and will be staffed throughout the three-day event.
Nebraskans can easily search unclaimed property records any time at the State Treasurer’s website, www.treasurer.org or by calling the Unclaimed Property Division at 402-471-8497 or 877-572-9688 toll free.
