NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee's Treasury Department is sitting on $1.3 billion in unclaimed property that belongs to residents across the state, but unlike some other states, Tennessee won't automatically return your money — you have to search for it yourself.
The massive sum represents money from millions of Tennesseans in the form of unclaimed checks, refunds and other property that has accumulated over the years. While the state returned a record-breaking $125 million last year — about 50% of what they collected — billions more remain unclaimed because most people don't know it exists.
"It's predominantly money that comes over in the form of unclaimed checks. Refund checks," said Treasury Department spokesperson Shelli King.
There's lot of money hanging out there that deserves to go back in the rightful pockets. The burden falls almost entirely on property owners to discover and claim their funds through an online portal, a system that watchdog Ron Lizzi says is unnecessarily complicated.
"You can claim property that's been in holding since the beginning of time," King said. "It is always in the name of the rightful owner and it is always available to be claimed."
Other States Automatically Return Money
Retirement project watchdog Ron Lizzi has made it his mission to help states improve their processes for reuniting owners with lost property. He believes Tennessee should automatically return money to rightful owners instead of requiring them to search for it.
"Tennessee is actually better than most states, but unfortunately, that's not saying much," Lizzi said. "That's like claiming to be the fastest tortoise."
Several states already cross-reference databases to automatically cut checks to rightful owners, eliminating the need for residents to proactively search for their property.
"They're needlessly making owners jump through hoops to get their money, and that wastes everybody's time, not just the owner's time, but it wastes the state's time too," Lizzi said.
Lizzi argues Tennessee has the resources to do better.
"They can do much better, as I say, they know where their citizens and businesses and nonprofits and cities are located, so they should be doing a much better job of returning their money," he said.
State Considering Automatic Returns
King says the Treasury Department is exploring automatic return options but wants to learn from other states' experiences first.
"It's definitely something we're looking at right now. We're looking at other states that are doing it and we're trying to learn from them what has worked and what hasn't worked," King said. "But we've seen other states is a lot of those checks going on cash and coming back into their unclaimed property program."
The department wants to implement the best possible system when they make changes.
"We've learned what hasn't gone right other states when we get to the position, we hope we can do it in the best way possible," King said.
How to Search for Your Money
Until Tennessee changes its system, residents must make claims through the state's online portal. The Treasury Department recommends checking your name, relatives' names and even deceased family members.
Even businesses and organizations may have unclaimed property — including WTVF News Channel 5, which was found to have money in the system.
You can search for unclaimed property at ClaimItTN.gov.
If you have thoughts on this story email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
