Love money? See if Great Iowa Treasure Hunt has unclaimed cash for you

Vera S. Lovelady of Urbandale, the Heartland Cooperative of Belle Plaine and Sweets and Treats of Iowa City have at least two things in common.

No. 1: Their names have something to do with Valentine’s Day.

No. 2: They all have unclaimed money or valuables held in the state’s property vault.

State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald this week released a holiday-themed list of people, organizations or businesses with unclaimed property in the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt, which lists nearly 1 million people who combined have more than $400 million in unclaimed property being held by the state.

“Most people say, ‘I know where all my money is. They won’t have any of my money.’ But we do,” Fitzgerald told The Gazette.

Unclaimed property refers to money and other assets held by financial institutions or companies that have lost contact with the owner. Fitzgerald started the Treasure Hunt when he took office in 1983.

“People forget about bank accounts, checking accounts and lockboxes,” he said. “Insurance companies turn over money — life insurance can be sizable. Or you broke your arm and never got the insurance check.”

► Visit the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website to find out if you or your business has unclaimed cash

Unclaimed property can come in the form of rebates that got lost in the mail, bonds and old shares of stock. Sometimes when people move, they may not leave a forwarding address and miss out on deposit refunds from utility companies, Fitzgerald said. Or if you’re a house flipper, there may be money in various accounts that now is coming back to you.

When safe deposit boxes get forgotten, people may lose track of important documents as well as jewelry or war medals.

“Grandpa might have been in the Big War and gotten a Silver Star,” Fitzgerald said. “You know how important it is to a family. For some reason, the person in charge of it forgot there was a lock box. After three to five years, depending the type of accounts, banks turn it over to our office.”

► Top 10 amounts of unclaimed cash in Linn County and Johnson County

Before Memorial Day last year, Fitzgerald’s staff put out a list of 10 veterans who had military medals or ribbons being held for them by the state. That list triggered families to look on the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website and the state turned over at least two items to families, he said.

Fitzgerald said his staff doesn’t have time to hunt down each name on the list, but they do try to send a letter each year to people for whom they have addresses. Talking to media and highlighting some of the people who have unclaimed property helps spread the word.

The Gazette reached out to Sweets and Treats owner Monique Holtkamp, who is busy preparing for Valentine’s Day when customers seek chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate roses, Sour Patch Kid hearts and swirl lollipops for their sweethearts.

She checked the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt site and found money.

“We partnered with Groupon in the past,” she said. “It looks like it was a couple of checks from them we didn’t cash or they didn’t get to me somehow.”

The site says the checks are less than $100, but Holtkamp doesn’t know how much yet. The State Treasurer’s Office verifies the identities of claimants before giving them the goods.

“I searched by name while I was at it and I found something from the first house I owned in 1999,” Holtkamp said. “It said also it was under $100. But money is money.”

Among Linn County entities that have unclaimed property are Transamerica, Mercy Medical Center and Van Meter Industrial, according to the State Treasurer’s Office. In Johnson County, Toyota Financial Services, Big Grove and ACT should check out the database to see how much cash they have to claim.

Even if you’ve checked the list before, Fitzgerald recommends checking again because money is continually surrendered to the state. “It keeps coming in faster than we can return it.”

Top amounts of unclaimed cash in Linn County:

Top amounts of unclaimed cash in Johnson County:

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com