HARRISBURG — Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Sen. Scott E. Hutchinson, R-21, and Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-3, announced the first Pennsylvania Money Match checks, totaling more than $1.7 million, are now on the way to Pennsylvanians’ mailboxes.

Pennsylvania Money Match is a new program that allows the Treasury to return certain unclaimed property to rightful owners automatically, which was approved unanimously by the General Assembly and signed by the governor last year.

“In the coming days, more than 7,000 people will receive Pennsylvania Money Match checks totaling more than $1.7 million – and most of these folks didn’t even realize they had unclaimed property waiting for them,” Garrity said. “We want to get the word out about this program, and let people know that these checks will be arriving, so everyone knows that this is a real program, this is real money, and it belongs to them.”

“Virtually every Pennsylvanian either has unclaimed property sitting at Treasury or knows someone who does,” said Hutchinson.

“For too long, those funds remained unknown to the rightful owners, and that’s where PA Money Match comes in. This innovative program has revolutionized how we handle unclaimed property in Pennsylvania by automatically matching individuals with their unclaimed funds.

In January, Pennsylvania Treasury sent due diligence letters to Pennsylvanians indicating that unclaimed property would be automatically returned to them. The first round of the Pennsylvania Money Match program includes 7,380 checks, totaling $1.7 million in returned unclaimed property.

Money Match checks will be sent quarterly. The next batch, which will include about 40,000 letters with checks to follow, will go out in May.

Pennsylvania Money Match authorizes Treasury to automatically return single-owner properties valued up to $500 after a thorough identification and verification process. At least 14 other states have successfully implemented similar programs.

Pennsylvania Money Match does not apply to claims for properties valued above $500 or those that have multiple owners or other complexities.

Those claimants will still need to file a claim and provide any required documentation.

Unclaimed property includes things such as dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, insurance policies, tangible property like the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes and more. In most cases, state law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to the Treasury after three years of dormancy.

More than one in 10 Pennsylvanians is owed some of the $4.5 billion in unclaimed property being safeguarded by the Treasury. The average value of a claim is about $1,600.

Find more information at patreasury.gov/ MoneyMatch.