Unclaimed funds total $827 million

9/13/2005

Attention Dong Ik I Rhee, formerly of Alexis Road. The state has some spare change - $226,536.74 to be exact - waiting for you.

You - and those National City Bank accounts you never cashed out - are not alone.

Tomorrow, The Blade will run a list of names on 8,545 accounts representing $5.7 million in unclaimed funds of accounts reported to the Ohio Division of Unclaimed Funds.

Residents statewide may lay claim to about $175.1 million reported to the division last year alone, swelling the total account - set up by the state in 1968 - to more than $827 million.

Nearly $21 million is in 122,429 accounts of former or current Lucas County residents. The money, some from funds four decades old, comes from forgotten bank accounts, uncashed stock dividends, forgotten rent and utility deposits, and even abandoned layaway deposits.

Many accounts are worth less than $50 and may not appear in The Blade. A full list is available through www.unclaimedfundstreasurehunt.ohio.gov, or by writing to the Division of Unclaimed Funds, 77 South High St., 20th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215.