The Massachusetts State Treasury is mailing letters to about 5,000 residents who have been matched to unclaimed property worth up to $2,500 each, and those residents can claim the money online without searching for their names. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced the pilot, called Claim Mass Money, on Oct. 26. Until now, residents had to search the state’s Find Mass Money database on their own.
Each letter carries a QR code and a unique claim ID, WBUR reported. Recipients use them to reach a short online page, answer a few questions and wait for a check. Goldberg said no search is needed and no name has to be typed in, and that the page takes people straight to the claim before the office sends the check.
Residents who get one of the letters should check that it carries the treasury’s return address and points to FindMassMoney.gov, which Goldberg said is how to tell it is not a fraud: “It’s for real.” Anyone who gets no letter can still look for money themselves on the state’s free search site, because the pilot covers only the residents the treasury has matched.
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How the Claim Mass Money letters work
The treasury says eligible claims in the pilot are approved automatically, with no claim forms or extra documentation, Boston.com reported. After a letter arrives, the resident uses the claim ID to confirm personal information and finish online. The office uses LexisNexis data to verify who owns the property, and it says earlier limits on data matching had held back its ability to connect residents with their money.
The pilot is small. About 5,000 people are matched to property worth up to $2,500 each, and Goldberg hopes to expand it if response rates are good, WBUR reported. The treasury said more than 61,000 claims were eligible for the same fast-track process in the last fiscal year.
The treasury’s own blog post from Oct. 26 says the Unclaimed Property Division will launch Claim Mass Money “for the first time this week” and send letters to thousands of Massachusetts residents. It credits Goldberg and the division’s team with building a streamlined claims process.
Goldberg said the goal is to make it as easy as possible for Massachusetts residents to reclaim money that rightfully belongs to them. Before the pilot, the only way in was to search the database and start a claim.
What kinds of money the state holds
Unclaimed property usually arises when the holder of an asset cannot reach the owner for three years, according to the state’s FAQ. Common types include uncashed checks, forgotten tax refunds, stock dividends and unpaid wages. Heirs can claim if the owner has died.
The scale is large. The Unclaimed Property Division’s fact sheet says it is holding over $3 billion for Massachusetts citizens and businesses. It says 1.7 million claims have been filed through the online portal and that the division has returned $738 million in cash and securities since 2017, plus more than 1,110 tangible items from safe deposit boxes.
The treasury’s other outreach
The letters follow a push to reach older residents in person. In a July post, the division said it had held more than 20 senior-center visits across Massachusetts since January and returned over $385,000 to seniors. Quincy residents received $72,359.16, Hingham residents $57,357.88 and Wellesley residents $55,758.16.
Goldberg said then that too many people do not realize they have money waiting for them, and that the visits make it easier for seniors to search for and claim what is theirs. The July post also listed stops in Sharon, North Attleboro, Weymouth, Quincy, Fitchburg and, on Oct. 16, Framingham.
The division also runs a live call center at 1-888-344-MASS (6277), and the treasury’s search is free. The fact sheet lists the division’s office at 1 Ashburton Place, 12th Floor, in Boston, and an email address, [email protected], for questions. In an earlier scam warning, Goldberg said her office will never ask people to pay money up front to recover unclaimed property, and genuine notices never ask recipients to send money for processing, taxes or anything else.
What Massachusetts residents can do now
Anyone in Massachusetts who receives a Claim Mass Money letter has a claim ID to enter online, and the pilot covers property worth up to $2,500 per matched person. The letters go to about 5,000 residents, so most of the state has to look for money the usual way, on the free search site at FindMassMoney.gov or through the call center.
Three years without contact is how most of this money reaches the state. A forgotten paycheck, a closed account or a dividend sent to an old address can all end up on the list, and heirs of a person who has died can claim too. The fact sheet says the division holds funds until the original owner or the owner’s heirs claim them, and it lists 617-367-0400 as its office phone line besides the call center.
Is Massachusetts holding money under an old address?
The Claim Mass Money letters reach about 5,000 people. Everyone else has to go looking, and money that sits untouched for years is easy to forget, especially after a move to a new state.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a 5-tab Excel tracker pre-filled with all 51 state unclaimed-property offices, so a search in Massachusetts and every other state a person has lived in can be logged in one place. It also lays out the source vault of 12 official places money sits.
Track the Massachusetts search and every other state in one unclaimed-property tracker →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
