Half a billion dollars is sitting unclaimed in Oregon, and some of it could be yours.

Julie Curtis, public information manager for the Oregon Department of State Lands, said the state’s unclaimed property collection is growing bigger every year.

“We’re always adding new names,” she said.

The money comes from a variety of sources: People move and leave behind utility deposits, forget to deposit an income tax refund, have a check lost in the mail, don’t realize they inherited money, stop collecting dividends on stock or overpay a bill. Curtis said it is surprising how many people never realize they have money in a state trust fund.

“The staff say no matter what meeting they go to, to talk about unclaimed property, they have money for someone there,” Curtis said.

Last year businesses turned over $63.8 million in unclaimed property, while the state only paid out $23 million in claims. Curtis said most years are similar, which is why the collection of unclaimed funds recently passed the $500 million mark.

Checking for unclaimed property is as simple as entering the name of a person or business into the state’s database online at www.oregonup.us. From there, claimants can print off a form to send into the state claiming their money.

The database can only be searched by name, not location, but a search for the word “Hermiston” turns up 52 businesses or organizations with the word “Hermiston” in their name that have unclaimed cash sitting in the state fund, including Hermiston High School and the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber of Commerce director Debbie Pedro said no one at the chamber had ever heard of the unclaimed property fund or realized the chamber had two checks for over $100, one from 1994, that were waiting to be claimed.

“I feel like I won the lottery,” she joked.

A search for the word “Pendleton” turns up approximately 48 businesses or organizations with the word “Pendleton” in them that are tied to a Pendleton address. Many of those businesses have multiple checks listed from different years.

One of those businesses is Pendleton Autobody Refinishing. About 20 line items are listed for the business, but manager Jerry Bernard said only four of those items can actually be claimed by the business. The rest are checks that were issued to the shop and a car owner to do work on a car that the customer never brought in to fix, usually because they decided they couldn’t afford the deductible.

“Our name may have been on the check, but the money was not intended for us,” he said.

Bernard said he keeps an eye on the unclaimed property website and does file claims with the state from time to time. Most of the process is online now, he said, and fund representatives in Salem are helpful if he calls with a question.

“It’s not all that complicated,” he said.

All states have a fund for handling unclaimed money, but Oregon is unusual because it holds the money in the Common School Fund, meaning it generates anywhere from $35 million to $50 million in interest for education every year.

The state makes an effort to track down and notify people with accounts worth more than $250, but most of the line items in the state’s database are for less than that.

Curtis said the contents of abandoned safety deposit boxes are auctioned off every two years and the money is put aside for the owner or heirs to collect if they ever contact the state. Items like family photographs are held for longer than two years.

“If something looks like an heirloom or it’s something extremely valuable we’ll hold it back from the auction,” Curtis said.

She encouraged everyone who has ever lived in Oregon to check and see if they’re on the list.

“It’s so easy to do and people should just do it,” she said. “It’s not our money, it’s their money.”

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Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.