Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wingfield Reports Record Set For Returning Money

Gus Wingfield, State Auditor, announced that his Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt program has set a new record by returning over $1 million dollars in cash to over 3,000 Arkansans during the first six months of the fiscal year.

"We set a goal to hit a million before the millennium and we have met and surpassed that goal," Wingfield said. "Our success can be directly linked to the increased public awareness of our program.

"The more people who call our toll free number (1-800-CLAIM IT) or check the internet for their name, the more owners we are able to pay," Wingfield said. "Last fiscal year, July 98 through June 99, set a new payment record for the program. We paid cash claims of $1,236,879 to 3,437 owners. So you can see that we are very pleased to have hit a million in cash claims only half way through this year," he added.

"The payment of old claims, money received over three years ago, has increased over 30% since we posted our data on line in September. People who missed their name when it was published years ago can now find it through our internet list. We work these older claims in our office, then submit them to the State Claims Commission for payment," Wingfield explained.

"We transfer three-year-old funds each year to the state general fund from our trust account. But, since Arkansas is a custodial state, owners can always claim their money. The Claims Commission just paid an owner $7,500 received in 1990," Wingfield added.

Wingfield posted the entire list of over 70,000 unpaid owners who are due over $24 million on his web site (www.state.ar.us/auditor) in mid- September. This was coordinated with the 1999 Treasure Hunt list of owners which was published in newspapers across the state and televised on AETN. The owner list is updated quarterly to delete paid owners. New names are added annually at the time of the Treasure Hunt.