First Posted: 4/2/2015
PITTSTON — The art of treasure hunting has reached the digital age.
The Pittston Memorial Library has been conducting unclaimed property searches in which Greater Pittston residents can come into the library and, through an online search, see if they have any unclaimed money owed to them by the state of Pennsylvania.
The idea for the unclaimed property search came from library’s youth services coordinator Patricia Joyce.
“Basically, what we do here is we have the unclaimed property database which we search for people, free of charge,” said Joyce. “A lot of times people do have money out there, and they just don’t know it, that has been sent over to the state from insurance companies or things like that.”
Joyce said a lot of instances when people do not realize they have money to claim is when they get married and change their names, or move to a new address.
She said a lot of times insurance companies will try to get in contact with an individual to inform them of money they are owed through an insurance claim. When attempts to make contact are unsuccessful and after a certain amount of time, the money the insurance company holds onto is sent to the state Department of Treasury where it can be claimed by its rightful owner.
This is where Joyce steps in to help by going to www.patreasury.gov.
“I go onto the unclaimed property database through the state of Pennsylvania,” said Joyce. “What we do is we’re looking for money that is through the state of Pennsylvania only; I don’t do any other state. Basically, what you do is you come in, I take your last name, I search your last name — if it’s a common last name then I search your first name, too — and then I just look up and see if you have any money coming to you.”
Joyce said she herself found that she was owed money through a stock option and that sometimes people find anywhere from $10 or more. Once, a woman claimed over $600 through a library search.
According to Joyce, not every attempt at finding money is successful.
“They’re okay about it,” said Joyce. “Some people just come to see. Anybody can do this, but a lot of people we get are older and don’t have computer access. Anybody can really go into the computer and do it and I do it individually, so you would come in and it’s private. I look it up for you, I print out the information for you and then I make a copy of your driver’s license because that’s what you need and then you read all of the information and mail it out to (the state). They’ll contact you by email to tell you they received it, they’ll tell you they have the claim processing, then they’ll tell you that they sent it.”
Unclaimed property searches are done the second Monday of every month. The next day will be Monday, April 13 and is a first-come, first-served basis.
For two years, Joyce has been doing the unclaimed property search as part of the Frugal Living program held at the Pittston Memorial Library.
Frugality, by definition, is the quality of being sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.
“Frugal Living Club is where we have people who are extreme couponers,” said Joyce. “We had Misericordia University’s extreme couponers come in and we also had a mom come in and talked about extreme couponing. We tried to do a recipe swap and things like that. I wanted to also have a buy and sell on Facebook where people can sell random things by posting them online, naming a price and meeting potential buyers.”
Joyce said she started the club because she’s very frugal herself and thought it would make for another good adult program at the library.
She said upcoming Frugal Living events are in the works for the spring and summer months. To join, call the library at 570-654-9565.
Joyce said she is also open to new ideas for Frugal Living activities.
