Thousands With Christmas Names Owed Money In NJ

NEW JERSEY — Millions of children share something in common with the New Jersey Treasury: they're all awaiting Santa's arrival.

Thousands of New Jersey residents and businesses named Santa, Kris, Kringle, Rudolph and more have payouts waiting for them — unclaimed property, to be precise.

This festive matter extends outside of the Garden State. About 140,000 Pennsylvania residents and businesses with Christmas-related names are owed a combined $12 million in unclaimed assets, according to the Keystone State's treasury.

Unclaimed property includes dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, insurance property and more. Roughly 1 in 10 Americans have something to claim.

Pennsylvania's treasury got festive by bringing attention to state residents with Christmas-related names who have unclaimed assets. It turns out that New Jersey also has plenty with festive monikers who have a holiday gift waiting for them.

Although it's unclear how much they're owed, New Jersey's database lists 1,000-plus records of unclaimed assets for people named Nicholas, 1,000-plus for Rudolph, 808 for Santa, 314 for Kris, 153 for Christmas, 131 for Donner, and dozens for Dasher, Vixen, Comet and Cupid.

No listings of unclaimed property appeared for New Jersey residents named Prancer of Blitzen. Same with Grinch and Scrooge, which may help explain the characters' hatred toward Christmas. There were, however, dozens for people and businesses with the name Who, of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" fame. (But even if you're the Grinch, it doesn't hurt to check.)

Patch also found thousands of unclaimed-asset listings for those who share names with characters in iconic Christmas movies, including more than 1,000 for Bailey (It's a Wonderful Life), 506 for McAllister (Home Alone), 111 for Buddy (Elf) and 85 for Griswold (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation).

But unclaimed property isn't only for those with festive names. New Jersey's Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA) estimated last August that it's safeguarding a combined $5.9 billion in unclaimed property.

Here are two ways New Jerseyans can check whether they have any unclaimed assets and ultimately retrieve them.

Through The State

The UPA's website allows people to search for and claim their unclaimed property. There's no fee for the services.

The "Search for Unclaimed Property" webpage requires users to input their last name or business name. But adding their first name, city, zip code and/or property ID can refine the results.

If your search turns up no results but you believe the UPA is holding unclaimed assets of yours, you can request for the agency to execute a manual search. Allow up to two weeks for a response. If officials successfully locate the property, they'll email you a claim form, which will detail the located property and what documentation is necessary to establish ownership.

Filing your claim online is the fastest way to do so. But the UPA also has the following mailing address:

State of New Jersey
Unclaimed Property Administration
P.O. Box 214
Trenton, NJ 08625-0214
ATTN: Claim Section

MissingMoney.com

New Jersey is part of MissingMoney.com, a national site that makes it easy to search for unclaimed property and cash. The site also allows you to search for unclaimed assets in other states.

Simply use the search form to look for unclaimed property, file a claim and go through the verification process to receive your unclaimed assets.

Anyone can visit the site, endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.