According to the latest data from July of last year to November, the state of Maryland took in $242 million in unclaimed funds and only returned $53 million, or just 22%, to the public.
Unclaimed funds can be money you forgot in a bank account, uncashed checks or even an unreturned utility deposit.
Right now, there are 1.5 million people who have money or property on Maryland’s Unclaimed Property website.
Robyne McCullough, a spokesperson for the Comptroller of Maryland, confirmed that the state has unclaimed property but “due to system limitations,” couldn’t state the exact amount.In 2023, Maryland officials said they had achieved “remarkable success” with its Unclaimed Property Division. It brought in $315 million and returned $81 million.
Ron Lizzi, a national unclaimed funds watchdog, has a different take.
“No, that’s a failure. They returned only 26% of what they collected which is terrible, and they made owners jump through hoops to get their money,” said Lizzi.
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.
“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 partnering with Kelmar, used by 40 other states, to create a new website. However, it won’t be available until next year.
How far is Maryland behind other states?
Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin use data-matching programs to automatically return money. Illinois has returned $100 million to more than 400,000 people. Wisconsin, which has been automatically returning money since 2015, has a return rate of 47%.
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.
Lierman is pushing two bills in this current Maryland legislative session. If passed, Maryland can use automatic money returns for claims under $5,000.
Maryland is currently using unclaimed money as a revenue stream. Each year it puts $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.
When asked what incentive Maryland has to return unclaimed funds, given that, Lierman said he is “really proud” of the state’s efforts to send 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.
Maryland has upgraded its website in the past two years, but it still struggles with name searches, it doesn’t show the full amount of claims or addresses, and it doesn’t show claims under $100.Other sites like missingmoney.com have been endorsed by the National Association of State Treasurers. The state doesn’t supply a link to missingmoney.com on its website.
“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.
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