As you empty your wallet shopping for presents this holiday season,
you might have some extra cash you don’t even know exists. The
auditor’s office is holding $280 million that is owed to Arkansans.
“One in four Arkansans has unclaimed property but they just don’t know
about it. They haven’t heard about it or they’re a little bit nervous
about could this really be true,” said Donnelly Davis, spokesperson
for the Arkansas Auditor’s Office.
Auditor Andrea Lea has returned over $11 million dollars this year
alone. Just last week a senior citizen found $25,000 dollars.
“You can just go and select your properties right there online and it
says claim listing and from there it will ask you a few security
questions just to make sure we’re getting the property to the right
owner or heir,” Davis said.
Over the last year, the auditor’s office has worked to make the
process more streamlined and easier to get your money.
“We did an overhaul of our website because we wanted to make it easier
for Arkansans to go online and claim their property. So we spent
months just trying to see what was problematic, what can we make
easier and more user friendly,” Davis said.
There’s also an alert function where you can keep your name in a
database and automatically get an alert when unclaimed property that
belongs to you pops up.
The auditor’s office has been printing thousands of checks and putting
your very own money back in your wallet.
“They go online, they’re successful and in seven to 10 days they have
a check waiting for them,” Davis said.
Arkansans can call 1-800-claimit or visit claimitar.com to file online.
