Pennsylvania will automatically return your unclaimed money - with one exception

For years, Pennsylvania has held onto billions of dollars that technically belongs to state residents - old bank accounts, uncashed checks and other abandoned property - that somehow never found its way to rightful owners.

Now state officials are championing a new effort to change that.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Treasury announced it had mailed more than 100,000 “Money Match” checks totaling nearly $23 million to Pennsylvanians, part of a program designed to automatically return unclaimed property without residents having to file paperwork or even know the money exists.

“I am excited that the first batch of Money Match checks of 2026 are on their way to the mailboxes,” Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity said in a statement at that time.

But buried beneath the fanfare is a less-publicized decision that critics say is preventing millions of dollars from reaching Pennsylvania residents automatically.

Although the 2024 law that created Money Match allows the Treasury to automatically return unclaimed property worth up to $500, the law sets no minimum payment threshold. Yet, the Treasury has adopted its own internal policy - no automatic checks for amounts under $100.

That means a Pennsylvanian owed $97.43 won’t automatically receive a check, even though the law appears to allow it. Instead, they must navigate the state’s claims process to recover their money.

“This is your money, and we’ve made it easier than ever to get it back into your hands safely and quickly,” Garrity said in the announcement. “Also don’t forget to regularly search online for unclaimed property, since some claims may not qualify to be part of Money Match.”

Critics of the $100 minimum policy argue that it undermines the very purpose of Money Match, which lawmakers pitched as a way to simplify and automate the return of unclaimed property.

“So, under this policy, if you had $99 in unclaimed money, the Treasury would needlessly make you jump through hoops to recover your money, when the Treasury could just send you a check without a claim,” said Ron Lizzy, a critic of the $100 minimum policy, who alerted the Post-Gazette of the practice.

“This would be like the Pennsylvania Secretary of Revenue unilaterally deciding that the [Department of Revenue] is not going to automatically pay tax refunds under $100.”

Treasury officials defended the policy in a statement provided Thursday, saying the threshold was intended as a starting point rather than a permanent limit.

“The $100 minimum was established during the initial rollout phase which occurred in 2025 and during that first year, nearly $50 million was returned,” the Treasury said.

“As the program matures, Treasury is expected to lower the minimum threshold to return even more money to Pennsylvanians.”

There is more than $5 billion worth of unclaimed money sitting in the state’s coffers. Compared to similar programs in other states, Pennsylvania’s $100 minimum cutoff appears to be unusually high.

In Wisconsin, automatic unclaimed property payments can be issued for amounts as low as $5. Virginia automatically returns property between $10 and $5,000.

Oregon uses a range of $50 to $5,000. And in Connecticut, the state treasurer recently proposed legislation establishing a $50 minimum for automatic payments.

To see if you have unclaimed money owed, go to www.patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 8:14 AM.