BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Department of the Treasury has returned $2.3 million in unclaimed oil royalties to an anonymous resident.
It’s the largest amount of money ever paid to one person in the history of the state’s Unclaimed Property Program, according to State Treasurer John Schroder.
The massive payout came from a deceased relative’s unclaimed oil royalties.
“This definitely was a special case, because most of our claims fall somewhere in the $900 range,” Schroder said. “Even if you don’t find millions, it’s worth your time to see if there is money out there waiting for you.”
This year, over 38,000 Louisiana residents have used the Unclaimed Property Program to collect $28.7 million of the $83.8 million collected from old bank accounts, insurance proceeds, utility deposits, and other funds from businesses, according to Schroder.
“More people than ever are claiming their money, and this is partly due to our new online system and fast tracking of claims,” Schroder said. “We’ve already processed almost 12,000 more claims than last year.”
To see if you have money to claim, search online at www.latreasury.com or call the Treasury’s toll-free hotline at 1-888-925-4127.
