Cordray urges control of unclaimed funds

February 22, 2006                                                                                             Contact:  Chad Riley

For Immediate Release                                                                           614-487-3526

Cordray Urges Control of Unclaimed Funds

Be Moved from Commerce to Treasury

            Franklin County Treasurer Richard Cordray (D-Grove City), a candidate for State Treasurer, today urged the Legislature to amend Ohio law to move control over the State’s Unclaimed Funds from the Commerce Department to the State Treasury.

            “A majority of states have placed control over their unclaimed funds with their state treasury, recognizing that the primary financial office should be responsible for this important duty to return unclaimed funds to the public,” Cordray said.  “This has never been a good fit in the Commerce Department, and now that Commerce is ramping up its efforts to regulate problems in the mortgage lending industry, it is all the more important to move this unrelated responsibility to its proper home in the Treasurer’s office.”

            Cordray noted that Ohio has treated Unclaimed Funds as a bureaucratic stepchild for many years, making very little effort to be proactive in returning such moneys to those individuals who are their rightful owners.  Under Ohio law, county treasurers are the local designees to work with the public in returning unclaimed funds.  “All of the energy and initiative in returning unclaimed funds to the public today comes from County Treasurers around Ohio,” Cordray said.  “It is a scandal that the State holds hundreds of millions of dollars known to be owed to the public but makes little or no effort to identify the proper owners of those moneys.  Moving this function to the State Treasury will help to address these performance issues.”

            Cordray acknowledged that the current Treasurer, Jennette Bradley, made only minimal efforts to return unclaimed funds when she served as Commerce Director from 2003 to 2005.  “This is not about one public official or another,” Cordray said.  “It is about placing this responsibility where it belongs, so that when the voters elect new leadership to the Treasurer’s office in November we will be well placed to do a better job in getting money back to the people of Ohio.”

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