Great Iowa Treasure Hunt – Find Unclaimed Property
One of my colleagues attended the 2024 State Fair and mentioned that they visited the “Great Iowa Treasure Hunt” table staffed by the Iowa State Treasurer. I knew about the program but discounted it as not relevant to me. They described the process as taking just a few seconds to search the unclaimed property database.
Hearing that searching for unclaimed property was both quick and easy, I decided to join the treasure hunt! And you should too.
In my case, a search turned up a property insurance refund check that was issued as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. I recall receiving a letter from the insurance company in 2020 and again in 2021 announcing the pandemic relief special refund, but evidently did not take the steps to claim the refund.
Because I never claimed the refund when the insurance company issued them, the funds were eventually turned over to the Iowa Treasurer. The Iowa Treasurer added the unclaimed property to the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt list. And the funds just sat, until my colleague visited the State Treasurer’s booth at the fair and encouraged me to search the database.
The Iowa Treasurer site provides good step-by-step instructions on how to search the database, or you can get right to searching.