SEARCH TIP: Never reveal your social security information prior to submitting a claim. Initial searches will only require first or last names, and claims are filed directly with government offices.
Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel, whose office manages the state's unclaimed assets fund, said the payment to the lucky guy is the biggest jackpot ever from the $600 million fund, which holds assets on behalf of 3.5 million unaware people or households.
Under Missouri law, businesses and governments that can't locate owners of unclaimed assets for five years must hand over the valuables to the state treasurer. Zweifel said most of the assets are bank accounts, stocks, bonds and contents of abandoned safe-deposit boxes.
Zweifel's office announced the $1.6 million payout Wednesday to do a little crowing and to publicize the unclaimed asset system. Although the average unclaimed account is worth $360, Zweifel said there are 30 accounts worth more than $100,000, including 16 from the St. Louis area. ShopSTL Marketplace Shop 'n Save [newspaperadfor] Shop 'n Save
Tuesday's big winner also is a metro resident, but Zweifel said state law prohibits him from releasing the man's name. Zweifel's spokesman said the man apparently had forgotten about a stock fund, and the brokerage had lost track of him. The treasurer's office holds stocks and other valuables about 18 months before cashing them and posting money to unclaimed accounts.
Luckily for that man, Zweifel said, the state cashed in the stock in 2007, before precipitous market declines. Zweifel declined to discuss the man's financial circumstances. MORE METRO bullet Get news, columns, photos and multimedia from the St. Louis area
"Obviously, $1.6 million is not something that most of us would forget about," he said. "Common examples would be a misplaced paycheck or a forgotten escrow account."
The treasurer's office paid the man with a check.
The state created the unclaimed asset fund in 1985, and the oldest accounts are of assets more than 75 years old, with last known addresses often that dated as well. The office says it has paid out $16 million on 45,089 accounts since July 1.
Jon Galloway, Zweifel's spokesman, said the 14-person staff in the unclaimed asset office traced the $1.6 million man. "They've been working pretty hard on these bigger accounts," Galloway said.
Zweifel said roughly one in 10 Missourians has a kitty in his or her name on the unclaimed list. To find out, people can type their names on the fund website, showmemoney.com, or call the treasurer's office at 573-751-0123.
