Oregon & Washington Are Making Changes To Give Some Residents Free Money

Oregon and Washington wants to return more money to people, so they're reportedly making changes to their unclaimed property programs.

According to KOIN 6, these West Coast states have been getting record amounts of unclaimed money from sources like forgotten bank accounts, security deposits, uncashed rebates and more. Oregon has $800 million to give back, while Washington has $1.4 billion in unclaimed funds, reporters said.

“The biggest challenge there with people is, especially during this time of fraud and uncertainty, is making sure that they know this is a legitimate effort,” said Trust Property Administrator for the Oregon Department of State Lands Claudia Ciobanu. “There’s a reason why the state is sending them money and we want them to cash that check. Because if they don’t cash it, then it’s going to come right back here as unclaimed property.”

While states have to wait for people to claim their free money, Oregon wanted to try something different. Reporters learned state officials deployed a new strategy last year where they mailed nearly 11,000 Oregonians checks for unclaimed money. These checks totaled $3.2 million, but only two-thirds of the checks mailed out were cashed by recipients, according to KOIN 6.

The same approach won't work in Washington due to a few reasons, but the state reportedly plans to upgrade their unclaimed property website to be more user-friendly.

“We’re going to have a fast-track program where folks that if they file a claim online and it meets certain criteria that we’ve defined, that claim will automatically get paid,” Patti Wilson explained, Unclaimed Property Administrator for the Washington State Department of Revenue.

To learn how to claim free money in Washington, if you have any, click here. For Oregon, click here.

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