William Christianson got an early Christmas present this year: a check from Iowa Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald.

The Colfax resident was a beneficiary of a life insurance policy owned by his late father. However, because Christianson was living in Texas when his father died, the insurance company was unable to locate him and in 2002 turned the money over to the Iowa Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division.

Just a few weeks ago, Christianson, who is semi-retired, learned of his windfall.

“My stepson was on the computer one night and just happened to stumble across that and called me,” he said. He declined to disclose the amount he was able to reclaim. “I don’t care if it’s $50 or $50,000; any amount that you can get from the state treasurer’s office is significant,” he said.

Though to many people the idea of the state holding unclaimed money for them might sound as far-fetched as Santa and his elves, well, yes, Virginia, there really is such a program – and a blizzard of new unclaimed funds continues to pile up each year.

Despite a return rate that has averaged 56 percent, the state currently holds nearly $163 million in unclaimed funds for approximately 665,000 accounts.

“We got over $15.5 million last (fiscal) year, and it keeps growing and growing,” Fitzgerald said. “You’d think it should get better with the computer age, but it keeps getting worse. I think most of it is that we’ve become such a mobile society.”

Through its Great Iowa Treasure Hunt program, the treasurer’s office returned more than $12.7 million in unclaimed property this past fiscal year, and more than $75 million to more than 250,000 people since the program’s inception 20 years ago. Forgotten checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks and insurance proceeds are some of the biggest categories of funds that go unclaimed, along with safe-deposit-box contents that aren’t claimed by an estate when the owner dies.

Companies have between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 to report and remit unclaimed funds from accounts determined to be abandoned that year, after making a diligent effort to locate the owners. Generally, accounts are considered abandoned after three years.

“A big area for us is unclaimed checks,” Fitzgerald said. “A lot of people don’t cash their paycheck. They may think their spouse cashed it for them, or it falls behind their sock drawer.” Though checks typically have a void date on them, the company’s obligation to pay that amount doesn’t expire after that date.

The single largest amount paid to an individual was more than $1 million in cash and stock returned to a Sioux City resident two years ago.

Accounts or obligations of less than $25 are retained by the state without notification efforts. The program’s costs, which include expenses such as legal notifications that are published twice in local newspapers, maintaining a Web site and operating a booth annually at the Iowa State Fair, are paid for out of the funds that remain unclaimed.

Interest earned on the funds is retained by the state and is not distributed when funds are reclaimed. “The thinking on that law was that much of these funds were in checking accounts and didn’t earn much interest, and that it would be difficult to determine a rate to apply,” Fitzgerald said.

Approximately every five years, the treasurer’s office conducts an auction to liquidate hundreds of safe-deposit box items that are stored in a vault at the Capitol.

“We have returned quite a bit of the lock-box stuff, but a tremendous amount goes unclaimed,” said Fitzgerald, who said the vault is again nearly full. His office is considering the possibility of selling some items online through eBay as an alternative to conducting an auction in 2007.

“We’ve had success with auctions,” he noted, adding that an owner who makes a claim after a sale is entitled to the dollar value received for the item, and is also provided the telephone number of the person who bought it. “And [the auction] also generates interest from people saying, ‘Oh, my goodness, I’d better check for my name.'”

Christianson said the claim process was “very easy.”

“You had to show documentation to claim it, but it was very easy and they were very nice down there,” he said. “I did exactly what the Web site said to do, and nothing else was needed. It was a fairly quick process.”

To check whether you have unclaimed funds waiting for you, visit the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt Web site at www.greatiowatreasurehunt.com or contact the state treasurer’s office at 281-5367. A national database of unclaimed funds for all states can be accessed at the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators Web site, www.naupa.org.