DAYTON — A new plan from state lawmakers has more people checking to see if unclaimed money might be theirs.
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The state of Ohio is safeguarding approximately $4.8 billion in unclaimed funds, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds.
Some of that money could be yours.
News Center 7’s John Bedell spoke to Daytonians about Ohio’s unclaimed funds.
Ernie Bunch said he has “heard about it” but never checked if he’s owed money.
So News Center 7 checked with Bunch, who has a small amount of money, “less than $25,” according to the state, waiting for him.
“That’s amazing, okay,” he said.
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WHIO also checked with Edwin Johnson and found he has over $100 that he can claim.
“Wow, that’s pretty good,” Johnson said.
The money can come from inactive checking or savings accounts, forgotten utility deposits, and more.
In all, the state is safeguarding nearly $5 billion.
The Ohio Senate wants to move $1.7 billion of that — all of it money that’s been sitting in unclaimed funds for 10 years or longer — into a new sports and cultural projects fund.
Under the proposal, $600 million of that $1.7 billion would go to the Cleveland Browns to help fund the franchise’s new stadium project.
The team wants to build a dome about 15 miles from their current lakefront stadium in Cleveland in neighboring Brook Park.
The day before the Ohio Senate plan became public, last Monday, June 2, Ohioans filed a little more than 1,400 claims for unclaimed money.
The day of the announcement, June 3, claims jumped nearly six times to more than 8,000.
Claims then more than doubled from there the following day with Ohioans filing 16,963 claims on June 4.
“For context, our news releases and social media ads generate about a 25-57% increase historically when sent out or posted. The increase in number of searches for unclaimed funds and the submissions of claims recently is consistent with the times we’ve had national coverage … and any of that paid/earned coverage mentioned above," Ohio Department of Commerce Spokesperson Franking Freytag said.
This is the third proposal from state leaders in the debate over how, or whether, to help the Browns’ stadium project.
Gov. Mike DeWine has floated raising taxes on sports betting, the Ohio House wants to issue $600 million in bonds, and now there’s the Ohio Senate plan.
It all has to be settled by the end of the month – that’s the state legislature’s deadline to get Ohio’s two-year budget to Governor DeWine’s office.
You can check if you have unclaimed funds here.
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