Columbia County man spreads cheer by connecting people with money they didn't know they had

Jay Wells is on a mission.

"I'd rather people have the money than the state of Wisconsin have it," he chuckled.

He wants people to know they may be entitled to thousands of dollars in unclaimed property.

"It's surprising that this many people don't have this money out there until you have make them aware of it,"

Wells says one day, he logged onto Wisconsin's State Treasury website hoping to find a nice chunk of change for himself.

"First of all, I looked to see if I was missing my fortune and any of my family but nope,"

But then he started noticing friends had money coming their way.

"Money is money!"

Not long after, he began helping people he didn't even know, including one woman who had $3,000 dollars to claim.

"She said 'you really are a Santa clause. Can I hug you?' and I said 'sure' so she hugged me and she said 'you don't know how much this means to us because we're raising an autistic grandchild.' Iit makes me feel pretty good," said Wells.

Despite his Santa hat, Wells doesn't consider himself Saint Nick, just the middle man.

"I can't consider myself a Santa Claus, I'm just helping people claim what's rightfully theirs,"

But just like Santa, he is keeping a list. A list of people who might like to know they have some cash waiting for them.

"This is what I've taken on because my wife says I watch too much television so I watch the computer now," laughs Wells.
 

Wells began this project just a few months ago and plans on keeping it going after the holidays.

Click here to see if you have any unclaimed property.