February 1st, 2023 by WCBC Radio

On National Unclaimed Property Day today, Comptroller Brooke Lierman urges Marylanders to check the Maryland Comptroller’s Office’s Unclaimed Property database to see if they can be reunited with cash and property that is rightfully theirs.  

“The Unclaimed Property program strives to reunite Marylanders with money or items that have ended up in the state’s custody,” Comptroller Lierman said. “Everyone should check the list to see if your name or a family member’s name is there. The discovery could be life changing! The property could include long-forgotten bank accounts, stocks or jewelry left in safety deposit boxes or other items of quality.”  

Nearly 33 million people in the United States – 1 in every 7 – has unclaimed property: financial accounts or items of value in which the owner has not initiated any activity for a number of years, according to the of National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.  

In Maryland, the agency has more than 1.3 million accounts with a value of more than $2 billion in unclaimed property. Last year, the agency released a 180-page Unclaimed Property insert to newspapers throughout the state listing 86,000 accounts worth more than $83 million. Individuals and businesses can search the online Unclaimed Property database. 

The Comptroller urges anyone who finds their name or that of a family member on the list to contact the office at 410-767-1700 (Central Maryland) or toll-free at 1-800-782-7383 or by email at unclaim@marylandtaxes.gov to find out how to reclaim their lost property. 

In Fiscal Year 2021, the Comptroller’s Office honored 33,746 claims totaling more than $61 million. Since 2007, the office has returned more than $970 million in unclaimed property to its rightful owners. Nationally, more than $2.87 billion dollars in unclaimed property was returned to rightful owners by state unclaimed property offices in FY 2020.