State Treasurer John Perdue presented an early Christmas present Dec. 19, a $23,355 unclaimed property check.

The Treasurer presented Mike McCarthy the check at his residence in east Huntington. Perdue reunited McCarthy with a matured certificate of deposit, one which McCarthy’s father left him.  The bank which issued the C.D. maintains a branch across the river in Ohio, but McCarthy found no evidence of it there.

Under law, once there is no activity associated with a C.D. for a specified period of time, the assets become unclaimed property and are transferred to the Treasurer’s Office Unclaimed Property program.

“I had probably moved within Huntington a couple of times since then,” McCarthy said. “My mom reminded me about it. I went to the bank branch and they didn’t have a record of it. Pretty soon afterward I got a call from the Treasurer’s Office.”

Treasurer Perdue said the office has made outreach an even larger priority in finding recipients. Means include phone calls, letters, a database at www.wvtreasury.com and twice-weekly unclaimed property inserts. The department may also be reached at 1-800-642-8687.

“Outreach has always been important but now we’re developing more advanced tools with which to do it,” the Treasurer said. “Our letters, for instance, use cutting edge search techniques to find the rightful owner’s most recent address. Our direct approach in this case is especially beneficial, in that we helped a rightful owner who probably wasn’t sure where to immediately turn.”

McCarthy said he has happy with the interaction.

“Yes, I was very impressed with that level of service,” McCarthy said. “It’s clearly for the benefit of the citizens of West Virginia. This will help us pay off and close a couple of credit card accounts and the rest we’ll sock into savings.”