Giving Back to Wisconsin Veterans and Seniors

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The Wisconsin State Treasury and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) are teaming up to help veterans claim money they may have lost or forgotten. The agreement between myself and WDVA Secretary John Scocos permits the Unclaimed Property Unit in the State Treasury to begin matching social security numbers from the Treasury database with those in a Department of Veterans Affairs database. Veterans who have unclaimed assets will receive checks from the State Treasury.

It is our hope that we can make it easier for veterans to claim their own cash…money they might not even know they are missing. These heroes who have fought for our freedoms deserve a little extra help from the State. We have discovered more than 4500 Wisconsin Veterans who have unclaimed money and are in the process of reuniting them with it. “Sharing information to match unclaimed assets with the rightful owner just makes sense,” Secretary Scocos added. “This partnership with the Treasury is just one more small way we can help those who have served and sacrificed for our country.”

I also began an initiative recently to visit assisted living facilities in the state. Many of our elderly residents do not have access to the internet or find it difficult to use and a lot of the unclaimed money we are holding belongs to them. I will be working with these organizations to spend time in the facilities and help these seniors claim their cash as quickly and as easily as possible. They deserve this help from their state government.

The State Treasury is holding more than $400 million in unclaimed funds. The State Treasurer and his staff of claims examiners are working to return as much of that as possible every day. Anyone can search for unclaimed money on the Wisconsin State Treasury website, wismissingmoney.com. Just click on the magnifying glass on the homepage.