$334.1 million returned in 2025 is most in a single year 

Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced that the Pennsylvania Treasury Department returned more unclaimed property in 2025 than ever before – $334.1 million, surpassing the previous record of $272.2 million which was set in 2024.

“One of my top priorities is ensuring that unclaimed property finds its rightful owners,” Treasurer Garrity said. “I’m incredibly proud of our dedicated team at Treasury who works hard each day to reunite unclaimed property with those to whom it belongs, and their efforts resulted in more property being returned last year than ever before.”

Treasurer Garrity’s efforts to improve the unclaimed property system and increase the amount of unclaimed property returned include:

• Implementing a direct deposit option in 2022;
• Launching an initiative to return unclaimed property to counties, municipalities and school districts, resulting in more than $18.9 million returned to 113 entities.
• Joining MissingMoney.com, a national effort to reunite people with unclaimed property that is rightfully theirs;
• Advocating for Pennsylvania Money Match (Act 81 of 2024) which allows Treasury to automatically return unclaimed property valued up to $500 to Pennsylvanians. In the program’s first year, nearly $50 million was returned via Money Match;
• Advocating for Act 65 of 2024 which adds more eligible heirs that can claim property, to include a surviving spouse, direct children/grandchildren/great grandchildren, parents, siblings/nieces and nephews, and grandparents;
• Advocating for Act 50 of 2024 which increases the amount eligible to be claimed using the Relationship Affidavit from $11,000 to $20,000 (effective in May); and
• Implementing new online fraud controls and policies to prevent responding to Bot- or AI-initiated calls.

“I want to thank the General Assembly for their work on behalf of Pennsylvanians to make it easier than ever for money safeguarded by Treasury to get back into the right hands,” Garrity said.

Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, abandoned stocks, uncashed checks, and more. Property is always available for the rightful owner to claim. Tangible property — often the contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes — may be auctioned after three years, but proceeds remain available to claim perpetuity.

Military decorations and memorabilia — often turned over to Treasury from abandoned or forgotten safe deposit boxes — are never auctioned and remain in the vault for safekeeping until a veteran or their family is found.

Treasurer Garrity, a veteran herself, has returned 548 military decorations and memorabilia, including 13 Purple Hearts, 3 Bronze Stars, and 1 Gold Star Medal.

More than $5 billion in unclaimed property is currently safeguarded by Treasury. More than one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed unclaimed property, and the average claim is worth more than $1,000.

To search for unclaimed property, visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property.

Information provided to TVL by:
Steven Chizmar