ANNAPOLIS, Md. (7News) — According to the latest data from July of last year to November, the state of Maryland took in $242 million in unclaimed funds that belong to you and only returned $53 million, or just 22 percent to the public, 7News has learned.
Unclaimed funds can be money you forgot in a bank account, uncashed checks, or even a utility deposit you never got back.
The state is sitting on more than $199 million that belongs to you.
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Right now, there are 1.5 million people who have money or property on Maryland’s Unclaimed Property website.
Due to the state’s limitations of its incredibly old system, it has no idea the total amount of your forgotten money it’s sitting on.
In an email the State of Maryland confirmed it:
Hey Scott –
Thank you for our conversation this afternoon. Due to system limitations, we do not have the total dollar amount of unclaimed property.
Robyne McCullough
She/her/hers
Media Relations Director
Office of Communications
The Comptroller of Maryland
The state admits it’s working with software and processes within the Unclaimed Property Division that is three decades old.
In 2023, the State of Maryland said it achieved “remarkable success” with its Unclaimed Property Division. It brought in $315 million and returned $81 million.
Ron Lizzi, a national expert on unclaimed funds, has a different take.
“Do you feel those numbers are a success?” asked I-Team Investigator Scott Taylor.
“No, that’s a failure. They returned only 26 percent of what they collected which is terrible and they made owners jump through hoops to get their money,” said Lizzi.
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Brooke Lierman, Maryland’s State Comptroller, said when she took over two years ago, it was clear the state’s unclaimed property division needed major improvement. Many of its resources were three decades old.
“Would you agree that percentage is not good?” asked Taylor.
“Absolutely. We need to do much better and that’s part of the reason we’re bringing this legislation and moving to new technology,” said Lierman.
Maryland is working on improvements. It’s partnering with Kelmar, used by 40 other states, to create a new website, however, it won’t be available until next year.
Watch the video below to see how to file a claim with Maryland:
How far is Maryland behind other states?
Texas, Illinois, and Wisconsin all use data-matching programs to automatically return money. Illinois has returned $100 million to over 400,000 people and Wisconsin’s return rate is at 47 percent.
Under current state law, Maryland can’t automatically return your funds.
“Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. should be automatically returning unclaimed money to known owners without requiring claims,” said Lizzi.
Wisconsin has been automatically returning money since 2015.
Lierman is pushing two bills in this current Maryland legislative session. If passed Maryland can use automatic money returns for claims under $5,000.
Bet you didn’t know Maryland is currently using your unclaimed money as a revenue stream.
Each year it pumps $100 million into its general fund from its unclaimed property division.
“It’s painless revenue. If you tax people, they complain. If you take their money without their knowledge there are no complaints. If they figure it out. You pay them. Pat them on the head and they go away,” said Lizzi.
“What incentive does Maryland have to return a large amount of unclaimed funds to the public when it looks like this is almost a cash cow for Maryland? We know from reports Maryland has a problem right now in its general fund,” Scott Taylor asked Comptroller Lierman.
“I’m really proud of the work that we do to make sure are sending this money back to its rightful owners we’ve stepped up our outreach over the past two years to make sure people know that we have this money, and we want to get it to them,” Lierman said.
In the past two years, Maryland has upgraded its website, but it still struggles with name searches, it doesn’t show the full amount of claims or addresses and doesn’t show claims under $100.
Other sites like missingmoney.com have a much better search browser. It’s endorsed by the National Association of State Treasurers. The state doesn’t supply a link to missingmoney.com on its website.
“So, you would disagree that it’s not a cash cow for the general fund in the state of Maryland?” asked Taylor.
“No, this is their money and at the end of the day if every single person claimed their money next year, we would pay it because that is our duty,” said Lierman.
